Doge: 21 employees of Musk's authority quit in protest

Washington. 21 employees of Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk's US agency Doge resigned on Tuesday in protest against their employer's actions. They refused to use their technical know-how to "compromise key government systems, put Americans' sensitive data at risk, or dismantle critical public services," the engineers, data scientists and product managers said in a resignation letter.

"We have sworn to serve the American people and to uphold our oath to the Constitution through presidential administrations," said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the AP news agency. "But it has become clear that we can no longer fulfill those obligations."

In the letter, the departing employees warned that many of those Musk had tasked with shrinking the government apparatus were political ideologues who did not have the necessary knowledge or experience.

The mass layoffs are a setback for Musk and President Donald Trump, whose plan to reduce the federal government workforce is based on technology. They want to lay off thousands of government employees or force them to give up their jobs.

RND/AP