As Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency associates barrel through the federal government, former Twitter (now X) employees have seen this all before.

Even as Mr Musk was speaking, workers at USAID ’s headquarters in Washington were being told not to come in the next day. Some 600 of the agency’s staff seem to have been locked out of their emails. That followed a weekend in which the agency’s website went offline;

DOGE has gained access to government employees' sensitive information via the Office of Personnel Management, payment systems at the Treasury Department and Centers for Medicaid and Medicare this week.