During the era when DOGE ruled the city (literally) and took it by storm, the United States government had a similar agency called 18F established in 2014 under the administration of Barack Obama. A subdivision of the General Services Administration (GSA), 18F got its name from its office location at the corner of 18th Street and F in Washington D.C.
With a small team of about 90 members, 18F’s mission is to assist other government agencies in creating essential technologies. Notable achievements include login.gov, a centralized government login service, government website design systems, and Analytics.usa.gov, a data analytics system for government website visitors.
Distinct from the United States Digital Service (USDS), now transformed into DOGE under Thomas Shedd, a member of Elon Musk’s DOGE team, who once praised 18F as the government’s top digital team, likening it to the “gold standard” in the tech industry.
However, Elon Musk’s perspective differs, and on March 1st, Thomas Shedd sent an email to all 18F employees stating the office would be shut down, deemed non-critical for the government.
All 18F employees are on indefinite leave, computers locked, unable to assist with pending projects. Despite this, the team, on their non-government website (18f.org), vows to persevere and find ways to continue serving the government and the American people. Stay tuned for updates on the Bluesky account.
TLDR: 18F, a government technology agency, faces closure, deemed non-essential by Elon Musk’s DOGE team, prompting employees to look for alternative ways to continue serving the government and the public.
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