CISA fires, now rehires and immediately benches security crew on full pay

The upheaval at the US government's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA, took another twist on Tuesday, as it moved to reinstate staffers it had fired over the past few weeks - specifically those still in their probationary period - though they've been benched on paid leave for now. Last week, a senior …

[Ace2]

One thing that Musk has no conception of is the entire universe of things he doesn’t know. In this case, the relevant ignorance would be the history of the civil service: why we have it, why there is a civil service exam and civil service protections, and why it was such a huge improvement over the old spoils (‘patronage’) system.

We have one of the best, least corrupt bureaucracies in the whole world, and Mr Ketamine is trying to burn it down because he doesn’t even care to try to understand it.

[b0llchit]

Well, you burn it down to establish a new system that is specifically geared to be corrupt. You remove controls and add opacity. Left can never be allowed to see what right is doing. Right is always kept away from left. Up is down and dark is light. Money is made to flow uphill; you know the recipients.

[elDog]

No, it's much simple than that.

Musk and putin want to destroy the US. Economy and society. And along the way weaken any pro-democracy countries that may stand in the way of the USSR finally gaining its rightful ownership of Eurasia.

[sanmigueelbeer]

Re: No, it's much simple than that.

Musk and putin want to destroy the US. Economy and society.

And then blame Biden, Obama, Clinton (Hillary first and then Bill), Bush Jr, Bush Sr, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Kissinger, Ford, Chrysler, Eisenhower, Franklin, Lincoln, Einstein, Isaac Newton, Pierre and Marie Curie, Castro, the Chippendale, the Chipmunks, the Left, the Right, the Center and everybody else that I have failed to mention (except Donald and Elon).

[Mike 137]

Re: No, it's much simple than that.

"Musk and putin want to destroy the US. Economy and society"

Sadly, I don't think it's even as focused as that. They both want personal dominance, regardless of wider consequences. They've both forgotten that the USA is not their private playpen.

[Geebsus]

Re: No, it's much simple than that.

Turns out there are a lot of lefty loons with their conspiracy theories on this site. Musk and Putin? Seriously? And then add in the rebirth of the USSR and we have a full-blown joke if a post. Make sure you're all wearing your tin foil hats over your man buns and pony tails

[CA Dave]

Re: No, it's much simple than that.

We're not even left. We're center and we're so damn smarter than you and your 5th grade dropout buddies will ever be.

[AVR]

A fair chunk of the US's civil service - several thousand positions, generally the best paid - is still subject to something very like the spoils/patronage system. Project 2025 explicitly planned to expand this category, so you can't say you weren't warned in advance.

[Winkypop]

President Musk is incompetent

And I don’t think much of his orange assistant either.

[UnknownUnknown]

Re: President Musk is incompetent

Or JD Vance.

Remember the Caddy is not allowed in the Clubhouse:

[TeeCee]

Re: President Musk is incompetent

Ah yes. The Poundland Medvedev.

I'd forgotten about him... just like everyone else.

[CA Dave]

Re: President Musk is incompetent

We all did, because he's just a puppet-pawn yes-man who thinks politics is like a 6-pack vs a vat of cheap beer. It's painfully evident Musk told him to shut the fk up and Vance meekly complied so that Musk's human shield wouldn't go punch him in the balls.

[Bebu sa Ware]

"your ethical obligations"

An odd turn of phrase in itself but doubly so in this context.

I would imagine a good few of these chaps have already lined up better paid employment or are in the process. Their restored salaries are now just a Jobsearch Allowance.

[Wexford]

Re: "your ethical obligations"

I read that as a hint to not say anything particularly bad on SM that might jeapordise their return to employment.

[UnknownUnknown]

Re: "your ethical obligations"

Whereas Trump, Vance and Musk have no morals or ethics and are happy to lie, ignore the law and demonstrate Misconduct on a daily basis.

[MiguelC]

Re: "your ethical obligations"

"it's good to be the king"

[Antron Argaiv]

Re: "your ethical obligations"

...right up until...it isn't.

The retirement plan involves loss of body parts.

[Geebsus]

Re: "your ethical obligations"

You mean like every politician ever, in every country? Humans gonna human

[gnasher729]

Re: "your ethical obligations"

If you have someone willing to hire you, you might stay employed with the government until payments stop. And do a bit of work on the side.

[ComputerSays_noAbsolutelyNo]

It's called D.O.U.C.H.E

Department

Of

Unregulated

Chaotic

Hellish

Emerica

[Geebsus]

Re: It's called D.O.U.C.H.E

Joke alert? Don't .. definitely don't give up your day job

[EricB123]

If You are a fan of the (former) New York Yankees, Read This

The New York Yankees had a guy named George Steinbrenner as their manager, and Billy Martin was the ball player. Steinbrenner fired and re-hired Billy Martin several times. There was once a famous TV commercial where Steinbrenner says to Billy Martin "You're fired!". Martin replies "but coach, you'd have to re-hire me first".

[Iceberg]

Re: If You are a fan of the (former) New York Yankees, Read This

George Steinbrenner was the owner & Billy Martin was the manager.

[Thomas Steven 1]

All goes to show that Russia got the best democracy it's money could buy

[ecofeco]

Americathon!

[Mike 137]

To paraphrase ...

"Now is the time for all bad actors to launch attacks on US federal systems"

[Hubert Cumberdale]

Re: To paraphrase ...

What's Meghan Markle got to do with this? Isn't she too busy making mindful cakes to launch any attacks on anything?

[Joe W]

Re: To paraphrase ...

Maybe Steven Segall is making a comeback?

(apologies to the BOFH for blatantly copying this....)

[Hubert Cumberdale]

Re: To paraphrase ...

1 thumb down

Harry has entered the chat.

[heyrick]

Re: To paraphrase ...

"Now is the time for all bad actors to launch attacks on US federal systems"

Why? They've already bought the current administration.

I mean, this has sailed past incompetence and it has even soared beyond negligence to sit somewhere in the region of "they're on the payroll of an adversary".

[AskJeevesAI]

Elon....complete ID10T......Yeah lets piss off all the pen testers.....just what you need before WW3 and Cyber War....Well done another sign that Trump and Musk have no fing clue.....(35+ cyber experience here)

[flayman]

Why do you assume that CISA are happy with the DOGE developments?

"CISA is thus following the letter of that judgment, in that the ejected probationary staffers have been reinstated, though they've been promptly parked on paid administrative leave. Weirdly enough, this decision was broadcast on the agency's website, presumably in case it's unable to get hold of laid-off folks and hopes they'll see that page."

No, they are broadcasting their compliance with a court order, in defiance of the White House. Bringing the axed staff back on administrative leave is presumably just the first step while they sort things out, or at least until the court gives its blessing to the defendants.

[doublelayer]

Re: Why do you assume that CISA are happy with the DOGE developments?

CISA can't be happy or unhappy about any of this. People who work there are probably unhappy with their colleagues being fired. The people deciding what it does mostly include the directing staff of the Department of Homeland Security who were appointed by Trump, so they're probably willing to carry out his orders and annoyed that the courts have blocked this one. Ordinarily, they'd have a director to do this, but the previous one resigned and they haven't put in another yet, hence the increased involvement from its parent department. I wouldn't read pleasure into cooperating with this order any more than you should read it in their cooperation with the previous order; they have no control either way what happens here and simply do what the last person to rule says.

[flayman]

Re: Why do you assume that CISA are happy with the DOGE developments?

Nevertheless, the offered reason for the announcement on the department's website is rather lame. I would like to think that even most Trump appointees are sensible people who are not comfortable being seen to break the law. There are still good professional people running some of these departments, if only for the time being.

[Tron]

Elect a clown, you live in a circus.

The UK did, now the US has. Maybe its some sort of virus doing the rounds.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Elect a clown, you live in a circus.

you seem to have a short memory, USA elected idiot orange in 2016, we copied later with mini-orange boris the clown.

then USA did it again with the orange one now,

few years and our fuckwits will put nazi fartrage in power, we have just as many fucking stupid voters as the USA.

[Antron Argaiv]

Re: Elect a clown, you live in a circus.

The difference between us being that YOU need a lot more stupid voters to put an idiot in power than we do, thanks to our antiquated Electoral College system where it only takes winning a few key states to get the idiot into power. The Republicans have made gaming the system an art form. The Democrats seem unable to counter it. And the Electoral College is written into our Constitution, which means it needs a Constitutional amendment to get rid of it (which is about as unlikely as...well, women's equality, voting rights, any number of other badly needed improvements to our society)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Elect a clown, you live in a circus.

Actually we just need states with 61 votes to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and it will be effectively dead once the lawsuits wrap up.

[Roj Blake]

Re: Elect a clown, you live in a circus.

The current UK government's landslide victory was achieved with just 33.7% of the votes cast.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Elect a clown, you live in a circus.

I would like to understand your logic in reaching the Nazi label as it seems to be a somewhat overused hence meaningless almost throwaway word nowadays as it appears to be bluntly used against anyone is not left leaning.

If you can explain why you haven't just used Nazi this simplistic way it would probably help many to understand as well & as a techie this request should be easy for you to lay out logically.

[GBE]

Re: Elect a clown, you live in a circus.

few years and our fuckwits will put nazi fartrage in power, we have just as many fucking stupid voters as the USA.

You may be competitive on a percentage of the electorate basis, but we've still got you way out-stupided in raw quantity.

I haven't done the math on stupidity per unit area...

[Anonymous Coward]

Get paid for not working?

I can do that.

I can recruit also team very good hackers. Best East European quality. We fix bugs and make US government good like Tesla and X.

[Someone Else]

Dept. Of Government ... what's that, again?

Now that we've seen what "Efficiency" means in DOG-E (which I still maintain is pronounced "doggy"), I think we might agree that the the real name for this gang-that-can't-shoot-straight is the Department of Government Eccentricity (again, pronounced "Doggy").

_{My concern is that "eccentricity" is probably too kind of a word; it implies a bit of "lovability" to this, where absolutely none is desired or earned. Perhaps a better word might be "Errata"? Maybe "Effluvia"?}

[Paul Hovnanian]

Rehired. On full pay.

Clearly not a cost savings/efficiency measure then.

But benched so they don't interfere with Russian/Chinese espionage efforts?

My jacket. The one with the cash envelope stuffed in the pocket.

[doublelayer]

Re: Rehired. On full pay.

"Clearly not a cost savings/efficiency measure then."

They don't have a choice. The court said it was illegal to fire them that way, and if they want to comply, they have no choice but to continue to employ them at the same pay levels as before. They can choose whether they work or not, but they couldn't hire them back on less pay without violating that court order.

Of course, it is easy to question whether the original firings were intended as a cost-saving measure as claimed, and there are plenty of reasons suggesting that was not at all what they had in mind. Hiring them back was not what those people wanted to do though, so you can't really show the costs as a failure of the plan since it's exactly the opposite of what they had planned.

[FuzzyTheBear]

Benched ? LOL

This has got to be a joke ..

Rehiring and paying people to stay on the sidelines is silly.

How is that cutting costs ? ..

That US government is a circus lead by clowns .. Totally ridiculous.

God im happy not to live in the USA and be stuck with these incompetent clowns at the helm.

[Ace2]

Re: Benched ? LOL

These are people that think that not paying their bills on time is a good way to save money. It boggles the mind.

[Ryan D]

Project 2025 gave us the roadmap to this fresh hell

Just look at https://www.project2025.observer/. It tracks every detail the US of A knew would be coming with the first felon back. DHS was clearly targeted for CISA cuts and Lo and behold, there they are. If you want to get ahead of the bookies, just review the tracker and place your bets on when the next shitshow is going to kick off.

Grab the popcorn folks, these were just the coming attractions…

[bombastic bob]

Judicial interference byoverstepping "judges"

Then a federal judge

read: leftist activist hack in a black robe

ordered the reinstatement of axed probationary US government workers by March 17

who are PROBATIONARY, meaning they can be fired for ANY reason, particularly "downsizing"

after determining that their terminations by DOGE was unlawful

DOGE is only advisory; ONLY the President (and the various department heads by delegation) can fire or hire bureaucrats, etc. ACCORDING TO THE U.S .CONSTITUTION, ONLY the President has the power to run the Executive branch (not some isolated federal "judge" from a local jurisdiction). There are a SEPARATION of POWERS for GOOD REASON.

This along with a few hundred OTHER federal "judges" DELIBERATELY standing in the way of FREEDOM and BALANCED BUDGETS.

Giving them "a room with a view" is a nice touch, though...

[Roland6]

Re: Judicial interference byoverstepping "judges"

> DOGE is only advisory

Hence why “ their terminations by DOGE was unlawful”…

[CA Dave]

DOGe

If Musk knew what efficiency actually was, his rolling electric dumpster wouldn't falter in a puddle,. His rockets wouldn't follow the North Korea model of launch-then-explode. Xhitter wouldn't be worth only a small fraction of that he paid for it, after dismantling much of it. He wouldn't lose in court after being an unconstitutional schmuck that makes him throw more of a temper tantrum than Trump does.