Head of DOGE-controlled government tech task force resigns

Ted Carstensen, the deputy administrator of the United States Digital Service (USDS) organization that has been renamed to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is resigning instead of taking the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation offer for federal employees. “I write to let you know that I have decided to resign from USDS and today will be my last day,” Carstensen said in an internal memo to colleagues that was obtained by The Verge. “I am not taking the fork, but after discussions with my family and other trusted advisors I decided that it is time for me to pursue a different path.” Moments after Carstensen announced his departure, a federal judge ordered to delay the Musk-coded resignation deadline from Thursday to after a hearing on the matter that’s scheduled for February 10th. USDS has been thrown into chaos since the organization was renamed to DOGE a couple of weeks ago, according to multiple employees who requested anonymity to speak without the government’s permission. Even though Trump’s executive order put Musk in charge of USDS, the group’s roughly 200 engineers, product managers, and designers have continued operating independently from the small DOGE team of young coders brought in by the Tesla CEO. During a USDS all-hands meeting on Tuesday, Carstensen said he wasn’t communicating with Musk and his DOGE team. He told USDS employees that they should expect to receive new work laptops and email addresses. In the meantime, workers have been told to stop using Slack for internal communication while the organization is moved out of the Office of Management and Budget and into the Executive Office of the President. You can read Carstensen’s full internal memo below: > Hello USDS, > I write to let you know that I have decided to resign from USDS and today will be my last day. I am not taking the fork, but after discussions with my family and other trusted advisors I decided that it is time for me to pursue a different path. > This was not an easy decision for me to make as my time at the U.S. Digital Service has been one of the best periods in my career. I believe wholeheartedly in the mission and have been inspired every day by the commitment, kindness, and intelligence of the team. I will be forever grateful for the chance to work alongside you and for the opportunity to serve as your Deputy Administrator. > It was important to me to get the team to a place where everyone could choose their own path forward, which is where we find ourselves today. I hope each of you lands on the path that’s best for you, and I look forward to staying in touch and seeing where it takes you. The people and the mission at the U.S. Digital Service are the reason why I came, and I’ll be cheering for you after I’m gone. > All the best, Ted