This piece is a look at some of the individual offices that the Trump administration has attacked to destroy oversight.
A wonderfully informative and detailed piece that covers an historical overview of oversight inside the Executive Branch, starting with laws beginning in 1883.
The 1880s were one fervent time for reform as corrupt practices and machine politics reached their peak, leading to a push for reform over the next 3 decades. Similarly, a number of oversight laws were passed in the 1970s in reaction to the excesses of Watergate. Taken together, these laws exist for the public to have faith in its government. They ensure transparency, fairness and responsibility in how the Executive branch enforces the law, procures goods and services and treats its citizens.
Laws and regulations are a response – there is a saying that “every safety regulation was written in blood.” If we survive this, we will need new laws and rules to address the breach in trust and betrayal of faith in democracy.
He then goes through each of the departments in the Executive that have been overrun, taken over, slashed, and ruined by DOGE:
- Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
- General Services Administration (GSA)
- Office of Management and Budget
- Acting Directors
- Independent Agencies
- Inspectors General
- Other Civil Service Oversight
- CIOs and Cybersecurity
And, one of my favorite bits—it's such a long read, and a lot to process; needs reading in more than a couple sitting—are the timelines in each oversight organizations and, especially, Big Timeline at the bottom. It goes day-by-day the changes that have happened:
For your convenience, here is a merged timeline of all the sub-timelines above, with the color coding to show how the action proceeded in parallel on different fronts (and sometimes, a single action like replacing the OPM CIO would hit two themes at once).
The story does not end here. This administration will continue to chip away at the oversight mechanisms that would keep its worst impulses in check (or rather, enable them to be prosecuted later). Is there something I should add that I missed? Feel free to contact me and let me know!