Every time I hear Peace Corps.

I have no idea why, but I always think about Cat Stevens Peace Train.

On the peace Train.

I think of the Frank Zeppa song who Needs the Peace Corps?

Oh, kind of relevant to what we're talking about today.

Play the song.

I'm investigative journalist Jason Leopold.

I spend most of my days getting documents from the government.

I'm attorney Matt Tapik, and I fight them in court to open their files when they don't want to.

From Bloomberg and no smiling, this is Disclosure, a podcast about buying a loose government secrets, the Freedom of Information Act, and the unexpected places that takes us.

So, man, I just want to give you a heads up.

I'm in the office today, but we may be interrupted by a fire drill, which means that I will immediately have to exit the office.

This is not like I'm in high school where I'm like fire drill, I'm gone, no need to return to school.

Oh you just went home, then, I like it.

Yeah, I went home.

Here, I actually have to come back to the office.

But in the meantime, we've got Peace Corps to talk about.

So back in April, I saw a headline DOJE eyes cuts to Peace Corps with in person visit and records access, and I was like DOGE at the Peace Corps as far as I was concerned.

Two months into the Trump administration, you can never ask too many questions about what DOGE was up to.

Basically what I started out doing just I don't know.

A week after Trump was sworn in as president, I immediately began covering Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

DOGE the government is just like the DMV that got big.

When you say this's have the government do something something, you should think.

Do you want the DMV to do it?

I've instructed him to go check out education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military.

So I was following DOGE at this time, and also following the individuals who worked with DOGE, young men and women in tech, many who had work from US.

And what they were doing was season control of these agencies to essentially dismantle the agencies under the banner of efficiency.

The administration, and we believe, driven largely by Elen Musk's priorities, really took a sledgehamber to the work we're doing.

This is the chainsaw of bureaucracy.

Early targets were the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Education, the Department of Defense, and especially foreign aid programs programs like the US Agency for an International Development USAID.

In February, DOGE went in there, and again, when I say Doze, you have to think of it as four or five kids.

They called them the Doge kits.

They were in their twenties, have zero experience working.

In government, went into USAID, took over the agency, and they gained access to the data.

They got a list of all the contracts, They fired staff, and essentially, piece by piece, just dismantled this entire agency that's been around for decades.

DOSEE cut more.

Than eighty percent of USAID programs, basically overnight, programs for HIV and AIDS, treatment and prevention, malaria, child healthcare gone.

Thousands of grants and contracts were halted or completely terminated.

And now we're getting an idea that these moves at USAID are already having a life and death.

Impact around the world.

One group Impact Counter estimates that the program cuts have already resulted in more than six hundred thousand deaths around the world, including more than four hundred thousand children, and this dismantling took place over weekends, right when no one was working at these agencies, and there's so much secrecy around DOGE.

So I decided I want to find out what's going on behind the scenes.

And then I saw this headline in the Guardian on April fourth.

Think about it, it's the Piece Corps.

It wasn't like DOGE is going into the NSA.

It was just like really going into the Peace Corps, Like what's going on there?

So the very next day, on April fifth, I filed this request with Peace Corps.

And you have to remember, let's just go back to April.

It seems like a long time ago, but the public really wasn't getting an opportunity to visualize what a visit from DOGE more or less entailed.

I mean we kind of heard bits and pieces of it.

You know, they were going into the agencies and demanding data, but really what was happening behind the scenes, and I kind of wanted to capture that through through documents.

Yeah, and DOGE transparency is an issue that manifests itself in lots of different places.

I mean, they were taking the position that they're not subject to FOYA because they're within the Executive Office the President, and you know that would largely let them operate in secret while having let's just call it, a significant impact on the federal government exactly.

So I asked for a whole bunch of different records.

I wanted to get a list of all the DOGE employees who are onboarded at Peace Corps.

One reason for that, by the way, is that other than a few names, the identities of those who were connected to DOGE was a secret, so journalists were kind of scrambling to figure out who these people were.

I asked for a list of all the words that were banned or prohibited or restricted from being used at Peace Corps in response to Trump's DEI executive order, any requests for data that DOGE had sought, all communications that reference DOGE.

So what kind of records did you get?

So it didn't take that long for the agency to respond, but I entered into a negotiation with them, something that I don't often do, Matt, as you know, because I wanted to get some records quickly, so I narrowed the request a bit.

I told them that I would accept these rolling releases right where they can send me documents every month, and so the first batch of records I received there were fifty four pages of emails from about mid February to mid April.

And what I got was a really great snapshot of what it's like to be inside of an agency waiting for Doge.

Oh, waiting for Goo Doge.

So where do we start.

Let's go back to February.

The Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, DC is a glassy mid rise in NOMA.

Its facade or rippling curtain of windows inside.

I imagine staffers who keep the organization's global volunteer programs running are following front page news closely as Doge descends on agencies all around them.

Breaking news are the future of the US Agency for International Development.

Less than two miles away.

On February first, USAID's website goes dark and staff emails shut down.

Staffers were told not to come into work today at the agency's DC headquarters.

Nine days later, just down the street from USAID, professors.

Gather outside the CFPB's headquarters in DC.

DOSE shuttered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters and demanded employees stay home.

Do you hear everybody in the background?

Let us LART Doge's engine closer.

They're going to put an epa'll put.

On February twelfth, landing at the Environmental Protection Agency, and now it's February fourteenth, Valentine's Day.

An email goes out.

To Peace Corps staffers, and for the first time, doche.

Has entered inboxes at the Peace Corps.

Not literally, this is just the first email about Doge according to my records.

I mean, it kind of cracked me up a bit because the subject line says Matt, Welcome Team exercise, and it says team, we will be running an exercise of our Welcome Team SOP, meaning standard operating procedure.

You will be contacted at some point during the exercise two simulate the convening of the team to welcome in simulated Doge team participants hold that hold that way.

I'm sorry, I got to unpack this.

So they know DOGE is going to come at some point, right, so they have like a designated welcome team.

Okay, so not too strange.

But then they're doing drills, drills.

Like the fire drill that I have coming up here, Matt.

It sounds like what would happen if like the head of state from another country was coming for a visit, you would have all these formal protocols and you would rehearse and all that.

And that's what they're doing at the Peace Corps, getting ready for Doge to come visit.

Right, that's it.

I mean, it's remarkable.

I guess it makes sense from the agency's perspective, like their future existence is on the line here, right, Doge maybe coming in and wiping them out, So I could see why they would be taking the visit very seriously.

So who sends the email?

Do we know?

While all the recipients and the sender, their names are redacted under a privacy exemption, I'm not terribly interested in you in the names.

But really, again, I wanted to get these records and I wanted to try to get them quickly.

Okay, so you get the welcome DOGE team email.

What else did you get?

It's more emails about the build up to Doge's arrival.

And so there's another email in here, subject line DOGE laptop preparation.

I'm like, what's that about?

Ooh, that's two weeks later.

But this email says see below for the laptop preparation statements you requested and so there's a couple of scenarios here.

It says scenario one that PC meaning Peace Corps, receives.

DOGE names in advance, so if that happens, laptops will be immediately available to DOGE staff upon arrival at headquarters.

All laptops will be pre configured with the identified software installed, accounts created, and acts.

This is granted.

Scenario two, DOJE arrives unannounced, four laptops have been set aside and pre imaged in preparation of doje's arrival.

Upon receiving the names of the DOG staff, hosting services will manually create their accounts.

Upon creation of their accounts, the service desk.

Will immediately configure each laptop, load profiles, and install software.

OCIO that's the Office of the Chief Information Officer, will require ninety minutes from a receipt of the DOGE team names to laptop prep completion.

This is amazing.

This is painting a picture for me not of an agency that's going to be confrontational with DOGE, but instead it's going to try to like be as accommodating as possible, I guess, presumably with the hopes that that will help them survive.

Look how quick we look, we already have your laptops ready, sir.

Right.

To me, it's kind of a it seems like they're being compliant.

This is fascinating to me because this is painting a very clear picture of the impact that DOGE is having on this particular agency.

And I mean, there's whatever people say publicly, and there's there's a there's there's a line of FOYA like court decisions that sort of talk about the idea of like FOYA is really important for people to understand like what's really going on, to understand whether there's a difference between what the government is saying publicly and what the government is saying privately, and that is a core value that FOYA is supposed to be furthering.

And what you've got here is, I mean, it's vividly clear how Peace Corps was viewing this, just by seeing behind the scenes, how they're preparing to deal with.

It, right, and to be clear, they're not doing anything wrong, but it's like, wow, you know, look at what they are doing just to a prepare for their arrival.

I think my own personal view is there is something wrong with the scenario in which agencies, instead of like doing their work, are having to obsess over these kinds of details for fear that they're just going to be promptly like wiped out.

I mean, that's we ought to know that.

I mean, that's a cost that is being paid.

That's an agency that isn't fulfilling its mission.

And you know, the people can dispute whether it's a mission that ought to be served or not, or whether it's obsolete, and whether they're doing a good job or not, or whether we should get rid of them.

But the reality is that the work of Peace Corps was clearly impacted by having to deal with all this, which shouldn't be surprising, but it's very vivid to actually see that manifest itself totally.

And so just about a week later, now we're in March third.

Are the cherry blossoms out?

This is this is the beginning of March.

I think this is probably like cherry blossom time, isn't it.

Yeah, I'm visualizing it.

So another email subject line DOGE Welcome Team meeting and again the sender and recipient of these emails those names are Redactive Peace Corps Welcome Team.

The DOGE team has arrived at Peace Corps headquarters.

This is not a drill.

Please join this welcome team.

Call now, Mac, this is not a drill.

It's not a drill.

It's not a drill.

How many explanation points?

No, no exclamation points, just a period.

So I should say that's my emphasis, but I guess you could read it this way since there is no explanation one.

Oh my god.

Well, by the way, speaking of drill, that is an actual fire drill that's happening right now.

As this is not a drill, this is this is not a drill.

I literally have to go.

I gotta go.

I'm gonna be yelled out.

Okay, I guess we're going to a break now, and he's back.

Matt.

Right before I had a quickly exit for a fire drill.

We were talking about these emails, and I actually think the email that says this is not a drill is actually a drill because fast forwarding four days later, it says in the subject line exercise and there's like stars next to exercise.

Doge team in the building.

So also I said that like read I read this email as if it had exclamation points, right, and actually let me let me read it to you without the explanation points.

Exercise.

Exercise exercise Peace Corps Welcome Team.

The DOGE team has arrived at Peace Corps headquarters.

This is not a drill.

Please joined this welcome team call.

Now, I don't think they were ever going to be excited to have Doge.

They're just like, hey, everyone, Dog is coming.

This is not a drill.

The leader is here.

The leader is here.

DOGE team is a run of the Police Corps headquarters.

Okay, this is not a drill.

Okay.

So now we're going to jump to a March third email.

This is the same day as This is not a drill email.

Okay.

So the subject line of this email is DOGE access to PC systems.

Now, this is just taking taking that subject line and you know, kind of building off that.

That is really important because what has been presented as highly controversial is doge's access to agency data systems databases.

Very is data systems.

There have been stories published about dosh's access to IRS data, to data DHS and other agencies.

So here is an email that says DOJE access to PC systems.

The only name visible here is Joaquin Ferau.

Joaquin is the Inspector General.

Of the Peace Corps.

The inspector, the Inspector General.

He's the person, okay correct?

Joaquin Ferau is the Inspector General, has worked at Peace Corps for nearly seventeen years, and the email says, Hi, Joaquin, we compile the list of PC systems and started prepping the procedures for providing access to them if and when requested.

The question came up as to whether IG systems should be on that list, meaning the list of systems that DOGE can gain access to.

Nonetheless, I wanted to reach out to you to determine if IG system should be included or not.

To date, I have not received any guidance on how this is being handled at any agency.

I appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

And what so I mean?

Inspectors General played, you know, a very important role, a role that is not unlike the role that DOGE was purportedly going to be playing, right, And the job of the OIG is to root out waste, fraud and corruption in the agencies that they're involved.

With, right exactly.

And they're the watchdogs within government agencies that investigate waste, fraud and abuse, retaliation, harassment, whistleblower complaints.

So what in inspect in inspector general data sets, like what kind of stuff is going to be in there?

All they're investigative files.

So more than seventy government agencies have inspectors general and so they conduct investigations, they field various complaints, and they'll conduct interviews, and so the identities of whoever they conducted interviews with, or if there's any whistleblowers in there, those will be that will be part of IG files.

So the concern may be that you're giving DOGE access to information about whistleblowers which might otherwise be protected or would otherwise be protected.

Right exactly.

But it's also important to note here that the Trump administration has fired many inspectors general since January, and the administration is no fan of oversight.

They are trying to weaken IGS.

So it's scrutiny for everyone else and essentially impunity for us.

Right, we're going to come in and we're going to dissect everything that was happening, but for anything that happens going forward on our watch, there's no need for an inspector general to be nosed around causing trouble.

Right, we can do that.

I'm not saying that that has any direct connection here because no response to that email, or at least if there is one, it wasn't included in our batch of records.

So the next head of emails that we see March twenty fifth to twenty six, and it's the first time that we're seeing a thread from Safety and Security.

The timing of this correspondence is interesting because of what's happening at the US Institute of Peace, three miles west of the Peace Corps.

Dosh has been trying to take charge of another agency and one of the more unusual encounters breaking news about the Department of Government efficiency and the showdown with the US Institute of Peace.

So the US Institute of Peace was created in nineteen eighty four as an independent nonprofit funded by Congress.

It's sort of a nonpartisan agency for studying conflicts and how to resolve them.

In the late February, an executive order branded the US Institute of Peace unnecessary and the administration wanted to dismantle it.

And in mid March, around the time these Peace.

Corpt emails are circulating, a bunch of board members at the US Institute of Peace are fired and there was a scuffle DOGE members accompanied by FBI agents to send on the US Peace building, but they can't get in.

Two days later, FBI agents visit a security employee at home trying to get access to the US Institute of Piece.

They still can't get in, and finally, on their third attempt.

Doge enters the building by.

Apparently threatening the federal contracts for.

The outside private security firm that the Institute employees.

According to Politico, and US Institute of Peace employees then call DC police.

And report Doge members for unlawful entry.

Wow.

Yeah, I mean this was a big deal.

The cops show up and to ultimately help Doge take over the building.

So this is sort of a cautionary tail for what happens to these agencies when they resist Doge's efforts.

So Institute for Peace is involved in a exactly that's what it was.

I love it, and this story more or less suggested it was a standoff.

Well, because they they're like, no, you're not coming in, and they head right, they became the Institute of Confrontation right.

And I should note I tried to reach the Institute for comment and didn't get any response because Doge effectively shut it down.

So Matt these email exchanges are taking place on the heels of a very public confrontation between DOGE and the US Institute of Peace.

So let's go back now to the email March twenty fifth from Peace Corps Safety and Security.

And again, this email has a number of redacted names, but there are a couple that are unredacted, and those names are Karen Roberts and Nancy or Bolsheimer, So Matt.

Both Nancy and Karen are Trump appointees from the first Trump administration and have decades of experience working in Republican administrations and now they're back at the Peace Corps for Trump two point zero.

So there it sounds like like what some would call deep state.

People borrowed, they burrowed in, they burrowed all right.

Continue and the email says Nancy and Karen redacted reached out to let me know that you two should be added to the list of people that get notified in the event a DOSEE team comes to visit Peace Corps headquarters.

I have the below contact information for you both.

If a team does visit us, we will gather in the Harris Wafford Conference room on the second floor.

I think this email is really interesting because of what it says here if a team does visit us, like, are they unsure if Doge is going to visit Peace Corps and has this planning that has taken place over the past month been in preparation for a potential visit.

If in fact, this is just kind of preemptive on the part of Peace Corps Matt that they have now spent a month to kind of prepare for Doge's arrival.

I mean, holy cow, look at how much time they're investing.

They seem to be taking a very different approach from Institute for Peace, who's like, get out of here, your trespassing exactly.

We don't want to be like us Institute of Fake Peace that gets into a confrontation with Doge.

They're peace posers, you know.

Yeah, they are the hair metal of Peace.

We are the true hardcore.

Members of Peace.

We're the slayer of peace.

We're the slayer of peace.

Yeah, we're not the def Leppard of Peace.

Okay, So the next email, now we're jumping table third, and here's where things start to ramp up.

Subject line detail to the Peace Corps, and it says team I receive two phone calls within five minutes.

I wanted to bring it to your attention.

Here's what I know.

Phone call number one names redacted.

He is serving as a senior advice at the US Office of Personnel Management and introduced himself as a White House liaison.

He advised me that redacted, so his person's name in an email address will be detailed to the Peace Corps.

Phone call number two and then it says name redacted.

Call to get more details on her onboarding.

She expects to be onboarded tomorrow with a laptop, badge and cell phone, she stated, who works for GSA and was originally going to be detailed to USA.

She stated, she has directives.

I'll be working with the Peace Corps in a leadership position short term.

But what's notable here is the mention of Office of Personnel Management and the GSA.

Right.

So the reason I mentioned that is Office Personal Management is like the government's human resources department, and so many of the DOGE folks when they were brought into government that became part of Office of Personal Management before they were sent out to various agencies, and then GSA was kind of like one of these first DAIS agencies where many of them went over to so I think that's a pretty notable email because it kind of gives us a sense of what's going on behind the scenes in the build up toward Doge arriving at.

The Peace Corps.

Importantly, it's dated April third, twenty twenty five, right, so this is what is it?

A day or two before I followed my request, and then that evening Karen sends an email.

You ready, Matt, I'm ready.

I'm excited, Telly Jos's arriving tomorrow.

It says Doge will arrive at Peace Corps tomorrow, most likely early afternoon, will need access to our systems and financials.

She is being lent to Peace Corps, so she will not be paid by Peace Corps.

Interesting.

We do not know how long she will be with us.

She'll be working over the weekend.

She will let Nancy or I know her arrival time and we will greet her on the first floor and take her to see another person whose name is redacted on the scene second floor to get her badge so she can get underway.

She will need a computer with access and most likely will need an office or conference room to work out of.

We gave Valves and a heads up that's Alison Green, the CEO, and she indicated we would huddle tomorrow morning to discuss the details and review the plan best Karen and Nancy, they're getting ready to review the plan.

Does this start to have like an office space kind of feel to you like it's.

Bob's Yes, it definitely feels that way, particularly like she will need a conference room.

And it's funny because you know when I was reporting on CFPB, that's that's essentially where you know, the dog folks hold up like in a conference room.

They papered over the windows in the conference room, make sure nobody could you know, could peek in.

So then you know the rest of the emails in this kind of chain.

The chief information officer says, I'm kicking off the support process now and be ready to go, looking forward to meeting with her, And then you know, another email thanks Karen.

As you know, the office next to me is a bilbow exclamation point, probably the only exclamation point that I think we've seen thus far.

Why would there be an exclamation point there?

Like put her here?

So now we're going to Friday, April fourth, I'm picturing like if this is a TV show, It's like the screen flash is like, now it's that date and then the next day begins.

Yeah, this is the moment we've been training for.

We've been training for this moment.

Can they feel it coming in the air tonight or today?

Oh?

Give it, we need the drum roll, Matt, you gotta go over.

You're going to Yeah, exactly.

Can we call it like Peace Corps versus like Death Corps?

Oh?

Yeah, DOJ the Death Corps.

I'm eagerly awaiting how this goes.

Friday, April fourth, the day DOJ's schedule to arrive, and around noon, the chief information officer sends around and know about Joj's arrival.

Cooperation is key.

The subject line of the email is system point of com intact access for DOGE team members.

When if they arrive, good morning and happy Friday, Team Peace Corps.

See that, Matt, like that they're embracing that Team Peace Corps or team piece.

Yeah, we will be welcoming the DOGE folks this afternoon.

We have been made aware that they intend to work on the weekends.

You know, I have to do the lover boy reference.

Everybody is working on the weekend.

Yeah, well but that's you've you've completely inverted what that song is about the line is everybody's working for the weekend.

Isn't it like you're getting your work done on Friday so you can party on weekend?

Really?

Is is that it?

I think?

So?

Oh, you're right, Matt, everybody's working for the weekend.

Yeah, so we have been made aware that they intend to work on the weekend, so we will need you on standby.

It goes on to say, as discussed, you should be prepared to do the following to be as helpful as possible.

There's a bulleted list of six very specific constructions, but this one stood out to me.

Under all circumstances, ensure that clear records are kept on what is requested.

What does that mean to you?

Ensure that clear records are kept on what is requested and provided to your ad assistant director.

And that says copying a couple of people.

Yeah, yeah, makes sense.

I mean there, I think there's a lot of sensitivities around and there have been a lot of disputes about what is doge entitled to or not right, And this seems to be saying, if they ask for something, let's document exactly what they're asking for and let's make sure it goes up the chain so that they can get reviewed and approved, and if there's a dispute in the future about what they're asking for, they want to make sure that's documented, or if there's a dispute about what they did access that there's a record of that.

Oh, that's what it sounds like to me.

So again, they're probably reading the reporting around DOGE at other agencies gaining access to systems the controversies connected to that, and are kind of suggesting some proactive steps in the event that there's request access data systems.

And that afternoon, the DOGE employee arrives a Peace Corps to suss out waste, fraud and abuse.

All right, they're finally here.

Here we go.

So the emails don't.

Say how the arrival actually went, but I'm imagining Nancy and Karen greet her on the first floor.

They escored her to the second floor to get her badge, and then she settles into a conference room with her pre configured laptop with the identified software installed, just like they plan.

And that evening, we're still on April fourth.

Matt, the Chief Information Office, sends a message to the whole team, and this is sort of a debrief team.

As you are probably aware, a DOGE employee visited Peace Corps today.

She and a few of her colleagues will be working here with us over the coming weeks.

They will be sitting in conference Room seventy to eighteen for the duration of their stay.

During their stay with us, please observe the following.

I'm cracking up that some of this are generalised Rioto Matt.

Do not not is in all caps.

Do not walk by the conference room to peek in.

The location was selected for their privacy.

Be mindful of your hallway conversations.

Do not not, again in all caps, discuss their presence outside the agency.

Do not share their names with anyone.

Be courteous and respectful of their time.

These folks are professionals with a big job to do and a narrow window in which to do it.

We want them to be able to do their job safely and effectively.

Your decorum and professionalism is expected.

I mean, do not walk by the conference room to peek in.

What I'd really like to hear is that read by the actor who played Tom Wamscan in succession?

You back off this an executive level of business, Okay.

You know I mean It's so funny because every time some kind of directive is handed down, you know, then the directive ends up being published by a media outlet.

But you know, yeah, and this is a big deal, Like I mean, imposing secrecy and government officials, Like there is some First Amendment law around this, and you know, there is a lot the government can do.

But like, these things are restricting government officials' ability to tell the public about what's going out in the government.

Like, isn't really very democratic in my mind.

I mean, there may be some legitimate reasons, but not to like save.

Embarrassment or to minimize scrutiny.

Well, what would be the legitimate reason to not disclose that there is a person from the Department of Government Efficiency there?

Why why keep that from the public.

We already know that Department of Government Efficiency exists.

We already know from Trump's executive orders that they are being tasked with going into various agencies to basically check their books.

So why the secrecy around them.

I think they're just engaging what politicians forever engage in.

But this is exactly what they'd be criticizing prior administrations for doing, like information blackouts, controlling the narrative spin.

People are tired of this stuff.

It's frustrating to people who want to understand what the government's up to, and then like they're trying to keep this kind of stuff secret exactly.

And to be clear, I'm not weighing in at all on the partisan politics around this.

For me, this is just about straight up transparency, just finding out what's going on in real time.

And I think our record in messing with the Obama administration and messing with the Biden administration just as much.

I think it speaks for itself, like, this isn't about partisanship, This isn't about politics.

This is about you're the government and you work for us, And I don't care what party you're a member of.

I don't care what policy you're trying to further.

If you're not willing to do it in the open, then you don't deserve to be in government.

Everyone should just imagine what would the world look like if the only thing that ever got reported in the press is what the government puts in press releases, in talking points.

Nobody wants to live in that world, except, you know, maybe government officials.

So these kinds of things, they really if they're followed, they have the ability to just shut down news coverage and make Jason's job more difficult.

By the way, the emails I received don't name the DOGE employee, but by evening on April fourth, there was already a story naming a DOGE employee in The Guardian, thanks to two people at Peace Corps who anonymously spoke to her reporter there.

They said her name was Bridget Young's.

So much for do not discuss their presence outside of the agency, right.

We don't know much about her, but it's since been reported that she's twenty nine years old.

According to pro Publica's extensive database of DOGE members, Elon Musk's demolition crew, as pro Publica called.

Them, it kind of reminds me of the Motorhead song We Are the Road Crew.

Yeah, what else?

She previously worked as a senior manager at Ramp Charging, a company that builds electric vehicle charging stations, and that's according to an archive of her deleted LinkedIn profile.

That's another thing, By the way, many of these folks who came to work for DOGE just to erase their digital footprint deleted their social media accounts, and did so in a way where like you can't even find much of an archive.

But before that she worked at New Energy Capital, a clean energy investment firm.

So no government experience.

That we know of, and now she's coming into the Peace Corps to you know, do her thing.

She was only there a few hours, but would be back and there could be more people from DOGE next time.

She'll be back.

She'll be back.

The following Monday, and email went around to some employees with a reminder, Hi, quick update.

The DOGE team came in to do an assessment, which is ongoing.

They have done the same at several other agencies that don't make the press.

The only reminder is if we do receive media requests, to work with the communications team and not respond independently.

Thanks.

I'm sorry you're talking about that, but a STFU.

Order, Yeah, have you ever received one of those?

I mean, it's like standard government fair that I've seen, like both parties, all units of government the like.

If there's a press inquiry, then make sure that it's the people at the top who can control what's being said.

So you know, that's which is usually nothing right, which is usually nothing right.

So what came of this in late April, the Guardian reported Peace Corps to undergo significant cuts after Doze review.

It reported that the CEO, Alison Green, sent an email to staff offering them a second Fork in the Road buyout, the first one being offered by Musk to all government employees earlier this year.

Employees had seven business days to decide.

Then in August of this year, the Peace Corps announced a shuffle in senior leadership.

CEO Alison Green, among others, step down to quote pave the way for a new leadership team and guide the organizational transformations that will make Peace Corps stronger and more efficient in the long run.

Karen Roberts stepped up as the acting chief of staff until the administration selected someone else, which they did in September.

So we know about some buyouts.

And a staff shuffle, but we're still waiting to learn exactly how many cuts were made.

So far, this doesn't look like it's as severe as the US Institute for Peace or US eight.

I tried to reach Bridget Young's and didn't get a response, But right before we published, the Peace Corps sent us this comment about Doge's visit, which they said took place in April and may quote.

Peace Corps and DOGE staff work together respectfully and professionally to complete the audits in a timely manner.

They added this about the cuts.

Following the review, the agency determined that certain positions could be reduced to carry out the mission more efficiently without any impact on volunteer safety and security, health, medical care, or quality of service.

Peace Corps offered staff members a deferred resignation program option.

In addition, the agency reduced oversees local higher contractors.

The Peace Corps continues to support it's currently serving volunteers as health, safety and security, and effective service, and continues to recruit, place and train new volunteers.

So, Jason, you said you wanted an opportunity to visualize what a visit from DOGE entailed and hope to capture that through documents.

Did the documents answer your questions?

Oh?

Totally.

These documents really gave us a behind the scenes look at the planning.

In some cases, the fear, the anxiety that was circulating right before Dog's visit.

And I do think that it gives us a visualization of what was happening inside Peace Corps right before DOJ was coming in.

Was fascinating to me in obtaining.

These records is the level of detail, the fact that they were planning for two months leading up to the arrival at Peace Corps, the drills that were taking place.

I want the public to feel like they're a fly on the wall and are right there when all of this is taking place.

So I think the documents are fascinating.

I want more.

I want more of these documents.

And as I mentioned Matt, this is just the kind of first interim release that we received after I negotiated with the agency.

And I think it shows the impact that DOGE, in the way it went about doing what it's doing, had on the operations of government.

I think to some extent, it also shows how much the federal bureaucracy doesn't want to change.

That it's resistant to anyone coming in and reviewing their operations and potentially finding that they're doing things that aren't consistent with policy directives of this administration, or that are inefficient, or whatever it may be.

And so like, I don't want to leave the impression, at least for myself, that this is like DOGE is bad and the agencies are good.

I think the idea of what DOGE was supposed to be doing is not a bad one.

And I think that agencies, to the extent they weren't cooperating, were probably in many instances being motivated by their own self preservation, which isn't necessarily consistent with a broader public interest.

True, and as I mentioned earlier, Matt, you know, this is the job that inspectors General would perform for the most part, looking into waste fraud and abuse, for example, labor mischarging.

That is what the watchdogs, the internal watch dogs historically have done.

But you can't get away from the fact that there's a political agenda here.

And with agencies like USAID that were identified by Project twenty twenty five, the reason was not so much much about waste fraud and abuse, but the political and ideological associations with the programs that, for example, USA Idea was funding.

Project twenty twenty five was essentially trying to make the case that the US was funding abortion.

So, you know, Jason, I feel like I haven't heard a ton lately about what's going on at DOGE, Like what is going on these days?

Well, dog is largely faded from public view.

Many of the DOJE employees, like Bridget Youngs, they either became permanent government employees.

They are now attached to a specific agency or they left.

I mean Elon Musk is gone.

So the whole sort of idea of DOGE taking an act to these agencies, I mean they first six months of the year, that's what they did, but then it just completely faded.

But they still exist US DOZE Service is still an entity, and as it relates to the Foyer, there's still a fight, you know, to get those records.

But for the most part are those who were attached to DOGE are now part of the government bureaucracy within other agencies.

But yeah, DOGE is not headline news the way it was for the first six months of the year.

Well, you know, Jason, you know what they say about peace right.

Peace sells, but who's buying peace?

And but who's buying Oh.

That's perfect, you put a price on piece.

I think Megadeth is about to do like a final tour, right they are final tour with Iron Maiden.

We're going we're getting backstage and we're going to interview Davi mis Staine.

About all this.

What do you think I'm broke?

What a classic line?

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