Trump has an Executive Order signing ceremony almost every day and we really only know what’s in the most high profile of them. John Elwood, a former DOJ attorney, took a look at a couple that we should probably be aware of. It appears to me that anything that causes them any legal roadblock is met with a new EO to clear it. We have no idea if he has the authority to do all these things but regardless, it’s leading to massive messes down the road. Nobody is going to know how anything works anymore or where to go to find out:
As an alum of the Justice Department unit that reviews EOs for form & legality–the Office of Legal Counsel–I’ve been watching the EOs & memoranda as they came out. What struck me most is the centralization of control and access. Things are happening so quickly that many haven’t realized it yet.1/x
Certain high-profile executive orders — like the one shutting down the Education Department — have drawn the most attention from the press this week. But a trio of mostly overlooked EOs and memoranda released this week seem likely to have great practical importance. 2/x
First: this EO will centralize in GSA procurement of 1) IT, 2) Professional Services, 3) Security, 4) Facilities & Construction, 5) Industrial Products, 6) Office Management, 7) Transportation/Logistics, 8) Travel, 9) Human Capital & 10) Medical. This will reshape contracting landscape. 3/x
Second: If I’m reading it right, this memorandum will permit OPM to fire *any federal employee* for being “unsuitable” based on post-employment conduct on 5 days’ notice. Some previous firings had to be walked back b/c done by people w/o authority. This appears to address that. 4/x
Third: This directs agency heads to allow access to all unclassified data, including “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all State programs that receive Federal funding,” including data “maintained in third-party databases.” Seems to centralize access to LOTS of data. 5/x
I’d be interested in what any experts reading this think, but as an ex-government employee whose own federal personnel records were hacked by the Chinese government, I wonder what permitting such centralized access means for external vulnerability. 6/x
This provision is so specific it seems likely to be responsive to some roadblock DOGE hit. Dept of Labor specifically called out–“unfettered access to all unemployment data and related payment records,” including info from Department’s Inspector General. What is this provision getting at? 7/x
In any event, some very interesting and potentially momentous changes that seem to have flown under the radar so far. 8/8 /FIN
They want their hands on all that juicy data and nothing’s going to stop them from getting it. They also want to bring virtually every important function directly into the White House to be executed by the office of the president. You know, this guy:
