DOGE Takes Over Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM)?

Few people outside the federal government know what the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is responsible for. From the OPM website:

OPM leads workforce management for the federal government. Whether you’re a federal jobseeker, a current or retired federal employee, a human resources professional, or a member of the public, our work affects you. Our responsibilities cover three broad categories:

• We set and enforce the background-check processes that determine individuals’ fitness to serve in the federal workforce.

• We provide human resources policies, services, and oversight to federal agencies, so they can hire and manage their workforces effectively.

• We develop and administer quality, cost-effective employee benefits programs, including the federal retiree pension program.

These are important functions. It is extremely disturbing to hear from various news source that in a matter of a few weeks, members of Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" have effectively seized control of OPM and are using it in ways never intended. They quickly established email communications directly with all federal workers, effectively by-passing each agency's chain of command and individual supervisors. Next the DOGE team demanded a response from each worker under the threat of termination for non-compliance. Now as the DOGE team, which is reportedly occupying an entire floor of OPM's headquarters with guards posted to prevent entry by actual OPM employees, appears poised to assume all the above responsibilities that belong to OPM. All this under the guise of increasing government efficiency. If Trump doesn't pump the brakes on this illegal activity, the congress and the courts must act swiftly. It's not just federal jobs that are in jeopardy. If DOGE is successful in taking over a government office as vital and important as OPM, it will become a roadmap for the wanton destruction of others.