Trump is recruiting Big Tech workers for the government

President Donald Trump will recruit workers from Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other tech giants to form the US Tech Force, a new program that aims to “modernize the federal government,” according to an announcement on Monday. Under the new program, Trump plans to hire around 1,000 technology specialists to work across federal agencies for an up to two-year period. Workers can then pursue employment with the companies partnering with Tech Force, or apply to continue working for the government. The Tech Force will work to “accelerate the use of AI” to make the government “more responsible and efficient,” as well as develop apps and modernize data systems. In addition to nabbing workers from Big Tech companies, the Tech Force will hire “early career candidates.” Adobe, AMD, OpenAI, Robinhood, Uber, Nvidia, xAI, Zoom, and others will also participate in the program. The Tech Force seems like Trump’s own twist on the US Digital Service (USDS), the agency that the administration effectively dismantled to create the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year. Former President Barack Obama formed the USDS in 2014 as a way to work with federal agencies to improve their digital services. But shortly after coming into office, Trump folded the USDS into the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before renaming it to the DOGE Service and firing dozens of workers at the agency. The administration has sought to cut large parts of the federal government, including its tech talent, pushing out many workers and demoralizing the ones who remain. Now, the Trump administration is turning to some of the nation’s biggest tech companies to revamp the technology used by the government. In June, the US Army similarly brought on executives from Meta, OpenAI, Palantir, and Thinking Machines Lab to advise the military branch on tech. And the focus on AI is a long-standing Trump administration priority. Last week, Trump signed an executive order that orders federal agencies to challenge state-level AI regulation.