‘Good luck with that.’ Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing

The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers, a move that limits outside access to government records related to the security clearances granted to Elon Musk and his associates, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers, a move that limits outside access to government records related to the security clearances granted to Elon Musk and his associates, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. CNN was first notified of the firings at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in response to a freedom of information act request for records related to the security clearances of Musk and anyone from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) who has been granted access to sensitive or classified government networks. “Good luck with that, they just fired the whole privacy team,” an OPM email address responded to CNN’s FOIA request. In addition to the privacy team, members of OPM’s communications staff and employees who handle FOIA requests were also fired, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Some of the firings are not set to take effect until April 15, one of the sources added. Asked about the firings, an OPM official told CNN that the agency did not lay off the entire privacy team but declined to comment further.