GSA staff facing massive cuts and fears of 'nonstop' surveillance

Source: NPR

The General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate and contracts, plans to slash its budget in half and ramp up monitoring of remaining staff—a model that might soon be deployed across most of the rest of the federal government.

The specifics of the plans inside GSA, including to halve the costs of programs, contracts, and salaries, were described to NPR by two GSA officials who were told about the plans by agency leadership. The officials were not authorized to speak to the press and spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal from the Trump administration.

Staffers have been told to expect deep job cuts among the agency's approximately 12,000 employees and the closure of many of its offices around the country, the sources said. Those employees who remain are being warned to expect their actions to be surveilled, from their swipes into government facilities to the keystrokes they type on their computers.

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The staffing decisions were communicated to some GSA staff during emergency meetings late last week. Staffers are refraining from communicating over email or internal messaging systems for fear of monitoring and retaliation, the GSA officials told NPR.

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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293258/trump-gsa-budget-cuts-doge