From PBS NewsHour.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been at the forefront of upheaval and mass firings at federal agencies, even as lawsuits challenge their actions along with the executive orders of President Donald Trump.

“I can’t tell you how many conversations I have over the last three weeks of people who are traumatized, who describe a reign of terror in their agencies, but not only that, a reign of incompetence,” New York Times columnist David Brooks told PBS News Hour’s Amna Nawaz on Friday. "Nobody knows what information they have access to."

So far, thousands of federal employees have been fired from numerous agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Energy Department, U.S. Forest Service and Veterans Affairs.

“It’s a form of psychological intimidation that is sweeping through agency after agency and making a government that is semi-functional,” Brooks said.

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