Civil servants at risk
First they came for the universities. Now for the expertise in state craft. Federal workers are now also under fire. How a pro-Trump group Ii waging war on civil servants.
Reuters recently published a long special feature on how Trump aligned groups are trying to "root out" communists subversive federal workers. [Ed. note: strikethrough is mine.]
In an unprecedented campaign, a pro-Trump organization has systematically targeted federal employees through online "watchlists." It reads like something from a dystopian nove. The campaign has already upended lives, destroyed careers, and forced some Americans to flee their own country.
The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) has created what amounts to digital wanted posters for civil servant as enemies of the state for doing their jobs—nothing more. [Ed. Note: will not link to these asshats.]
Political warfare with a human cost
As the report notes, Stefanie Anderson never imagined she'd have to ask whether her children were safe. She is a longtime public health worker who was deployed to Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis and worked on HIV prevention programs.
She found herself staring at her own photo on AAF's "DEI Watchlist" in February. Her telephone immediately began ringing with 30 calls daily from unknown numbers. The caused a devastating and immediate impact on her life. Anderson changed her hairstyle to avoid recognition, stayed indoors, rerouted packages from her home, and constantly reminded her children to lock doors and check security cameras. As a Black woman, she said the experience reminded her of 19th-century fugitive slave advertisements.
Her story isn't unique. Across the country, federal employees of all backgrounds have been living in fear:
- A stranger who recognized her from the list confronted a mother at a Maryland library
- Someone calling her a "traitor" shattered windows in an immigration judge's home in Texas
- A CDC employee in Georgia required police protection outside her home for a week (on top of everything else they've had to endure)
Many workers have deleted their social media accounts, bolstered home security, and sought therapy for anxiety and depression because of harassment.
They are being treated as enemies of the state.
The watchlist machine
Since October, AAF has published three distinct watchlists targeting different segments of the federal workforce:
The DHS Watchlist
This has branded 60 federal employees as "targets" for their immigration work, including nearly a dozen immigration judges.
The Education Department list
This identifies staff in the department as "political ideologues." Every accusation is a confession as a friend of my often says these days (chapeaux John F.).
The DEI Watchlist
You had to know there would bo one of these, since it's the new bugaboo for MAGA and Republicans in general. This one features employees who worked on diversity initiatives across agencies.
This all, of course, aligns with other efforts the administration has taken this year: trageting immigration and DEI, specifically.
Each site functions like a digital pillory, featuring photos and personal details drawn from public records and social media. The accusations are inflammatory: "subversive," "divisive," or "left-wing" activities that often amount to nothing more than donating to Democrats or supporting immigrant aid groups—activities that are entirely legal under federal employment law.
It is constitutionally protected as well. Not that anything other than the second amendment matters to this lot.
The message to these workers is chilling and clear—toe the line:
Lives and careers destroyed
The consequences have been swift and severe. Noelle Sharp, a federal immigration judge in Houston with three years of incident-free service, saw her life crumble after appearing on the DHS Watchlist. AAF accused her of bias based on her previous work as an immigration attorney and with Catholic Charities.
A week after the list went live, a stranger appeared at her home, pounding on her door until a window shattered. "Terrorist," he called her, threatening that "someone should do something about you." Later, her car windshield was smashed. The U.S. Marshals Service gave her an emergency alert app.
On February 14, Sharp was unceremoniously fired. She believes her inclusion on the watchlist contributed directly to her dismissal. Fearing for her safety, she and her husband have moved to Mexico, where she now works remotely as an immigration attorney.
Sharp's firing coincides with a broader purge—at least 106 immigration judges have been fired, reassigned, or accepted buyouts since Trump took office in January.
Anything that could be seen to aid immigration is a threat to this xenophobic and race-baiting administration.
The network at work on this fascist campaign
AAF didn't emerge from nowhere. The organization launched in December 2020. It started with backing from a network of Trump-aligned nonprofits. These include groups led by Russell Vought (now Trump's budget director). More worryingly, Stephen Miller (senior Trump advisor, scary asshole, and Musk cuckold) also backs the group. The Conservative Partnership Institute provided over $335,000 in first-year funding. [Ed. Note: Sue me bitch.]
Tom Jones, AAF's president, advised the Heritage Foundation on Project 2025. We now live in that project. It calls for slashing the federal workforce among other more heinous things. It gave us DOGE after all. In 2024, Heritage awarded AAF $100,000 to support its work. Jones has been clear about his mission: "We're gonna tell you who these people are and what they're about."
The group's evolution from a Biden-focused opposition research outfit to a weapon for targeting civil servants represents a new front in political warfare. It treats career government employees as enemy combatants rather than public servants.
Papers please. Prove your loyalty.
Targeting the vulnerable
The demographics of AAF's targets reveal troubling patterns. Women make up more than two-thirds of the 175 federal employees named across the lists, despite comprising less than half the federal workforce. About 50% are racial and ethnic minorities, compared with 41% of all federal workers. This shocks exactly no one that's been paying attention.
Patricia Kramer, a 43-year-old Army veteran and Hispanic employment strategist at the National Institutes of Health, compared seeing her name on the list to the anxiety she felt during her 2009 deployment to Iraq. The daughter of Mexican immigrants who earned a psychology degree to help veterans with mental health struggles, Kramer's work focused on improving Hispanic representation in federal staffing and research. God forbid our civil service look like society at large.
After being listed, she became hypervigilant, avoided leaving home, and constantly monitored her surroundings. She mostly feared for her 17-year-old son. When she tried to get her photo removed from the site, AAF fought back.
They eventually replaced it with an illustration captioned: "DEI bureaucrats are so ashamed of what they're doing that they don't want to show their faces." Apparently, only the brown shirts get to show the faces of their perceived enemies.
Kramer was terminated from her job in July.
Gray legality
Free-speech experts note that AAF operates in a carefully calculated legal gray area. The sites omit home addresses, phone numbers, and other intimate details associated with doxxing. This keeps them just beyond the boundaries of criminal violations.
"What is so ominous about these sites is that they're close to the line of illegal, but not crossing the line," said University of Virginia law professor Danielle Citron.
This creates a "chilling effect" that deters civil servants from necessary work. All because it is from politically sensitive. These efforts undermine effective governance.
A government that works for society is the last thing they want. They have demonized government in all forms for decades now. St. Ronnie was the devil. And know we have to pay him.
Not going quietly into the good night
Some targeted employees aren't going quietly. Anderson and others have filed a complaint with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. It accuses the Trump administration of violating federal workers' civil and constitutional rights. The federal Civil Service Reform Act prohibits personnel decisions based on perceived political affiliation.
Not that actual laws matter to this lot. At least they can tie things up for a time until we have some change in regime.
Others, like Kiana Atkins, have made the heartbreaking decision to leave the country. The 46-year-old NIH employee, whose work focused on reducing employment barriers for Black employees, accepted a government buyout and moved to Central America in February.
The broader assault on democratic governance
The watchlists represent just one component of a broader assault on the federal workforce. More than 200,000 federal employees have left government service since Trump took office—roughly 154,000 through buyouts and an estimated 55,000 through firings or layoffs. Thanks DOGE. (full disclosure, I've had close friends affected by this at CDC and contracting for DOD.)
Meanwhile, the administration has relaxed the enforcement of the Hatch Act, allowing federal employees to openly support the president at work. This effectively politicizes the civil service system that had been designed to remain nonpartisan. They are also seeking to expand political appointees to the civil service to replaces those with actual expertise in those jobs.
Breaking government just to rail against it.
What's happening to these federal workers represents an assault on the very concept of professional, nonpartisan government service. When they can target civil servants for firing for doing their jobs, when they treat career professionals as enemies of the state, the foundations of effective governance crumble.
Just as they desire.
The question that should haunt us all.
In a functioning democracy, the answer should be an unequivocal no. But as these watchlists demonstrate, we're living in times when even asking that question has become necessary—and terrifying.
We must cut them off entirely. The country will require a new reconstruction, fully executed. Do we have the pro-democracy leader to make this happen? I think we do, should they be allowed to do their work by the old guard.
Non in cautus futuri.
