Federal employees seek a temporary restriction order as part of a collective claim that accuses a group of associates of Elon Musk of allegedly operating a server illegally from the fifth floor of the headquarters of the United States personnel management office (OPM) in Washington, DC, DC.
A lawyer who represents two federal workers, Jane 1 and 2, made a motion this morning arguing that the continuous operation of the server not only violates the federal law, but potentially exposes large amounts of personal information of the government personnel to foreign adversaries hostile through an email without encrypting.
TO copy of the motionSubmitted to the DC District Court by the National Security Directors, a law firm of public interest in the Washington area, was obtained by Wired exclusively in advance. Wired previously reported that Musk had installed several lackeys in the main OPM offices, including people with ties with Xai, Neuralink and other companies it owns.
Initial demand, Filed on January 27Appointment informs that Musk associates illegally connected a server to a government network with the purpose of reaping information, including the email names of federal employees. The server was installed in the agency’s facilities, alleges the complaint, without OPM, the Government Human Resources Department, which conduct a mandatory impact evaluation of the privacy required by the Federal Law.
Under 2002 Electronic Government ActAgencies must carry out privacy evaluations before making “substantial changes in existing information technology” by handling the “identifiable” information. In particular, before the installation of the server, OPM did not have the technical capacity to send by email to the entire federal workforce from a single email account.
“(A) At some point after January 20, 2025, OPM allowed unknown people to simply avoid their existing security systems and protocols,” says Tuesday’s motion, “with the declared purpose of being able to communicate directly with those people Without involving other agencies. convenience. “
OPM did not respond immediately to a comment request.
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If the motion is granted, OPM would be forced to disconnect the server until the evaluation is carried out. As a consequence, Trump’s administration plans to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce would probably face delays. The email account linked to the server, hr@opm.gov, is currently being used to collect information from federal workers who accept purchases under the “Deferred Resignation Program” of the administrator, which will expire on February 6.
“According to the law, a temporary restriction order is an extraordinary remedy,” says the executive director of the National Security Directors, Kel McClanahan. “But this is an extraordinary situation.”
Before issuing a restriction order, the courts apply what is known as the doctrine of the “balance of shares”, weighing loads and costs in both parties. In this case, however, McClanahan argues that the court order would not inflict “difficulties” to the government. February 6 is an “arbitrary deadline,” he says, and the administration could simply continue to implement the resignation program “through pre -existing channels.”
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