<p>Washington: The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech-savvy civil servants that helped build the IRS’s free tax-filing service and revamped websites across government, according to an email sent overnight to employees.<br></p><p>In an email to employees of the US General Services Administration (GSA) seen by <em>Reuters</em>, the GSA’s Director of Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd said the team — known as 18F — had been identified as “non critical.”<br></p><p>A GSA source said the roughly 90 18F employees were immediately locked out of their devices.<br></p><p>First launched in 2014 under former President Barack Obama, the 18F team was housed within GSA and helped federal agencies improve their digital services.</p>.Musk’s empire tells its own DOGE story.<p>It was tasked with improving federal website accessibility, modernizing technology, enhancing data access, and making the government’s customer service experience more user-friendly.<br></p><p>Billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency team known as DOGE, earlier this month responded to a post on X that called 18F a "far left government-wide computer office" by saying the group has been "deleted."<br></p><p>The IRS's free direct-file tax website is currently still online.<br>GSA did not immediately return a message seeking comment.</p>
<p>Washington: The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech-savvy civil servants that helped build the IRS’s free tax-filing service and revamped websites across government, according to an email sent overnight to employees.<br></p><p>In an email to employees of the US General Services Administration (GSA) seen by <em>Reuters</em>, the GSA’s Director of Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd said the team — known as 18F — had been identified as “non critical.”<br></p><p>A GSA source said the roughly 90 18F employees were immediately locked out of their devices.<br></p><p>First launched in 2014 under former President Barack Obama, the 18F team was housed within GSA and helped federal agencies improve their digital services.</p>.Musk’s empire tells its own DOGE story.<p>It was tasked with improving federal website accessibility, modernizing technology, enhancing data access, and making the government’s customer service experience more user-friendly.<br></p><p>Billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency team known as DOGE, earlier this month responded to a post on X that called 18F a "far left government-wide computer office" by saying the group has been "deleted."<br></p><p>The IRS's free direct-file tax website is currently still online.<br>GSA did not immediately return a message seeking comment.</p>