Federal employees say they’re terrified by reports that a conservative think tank has flooded government agencies with a host of information requests that could potentially be used to target individual workers.
Media outlet ProPublica reported Tuesday that the conservative Heritage Foundation has submitted more than 2,000 records requests across federal agencies, including requests for career employees’ communications and searches for terms including “climate change” and “climate equity.”
The onslaught of public records requests came from the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, which uses “Freedom of Information Act requests and other means to make government more transparent to the public and to allow Congress to use its oversight authorities with maximum effectiveness,” according to the group’s website.
Some current and former government employees see the move as a threat to civil servants, many of whom are concerned about their job security if former President Donald Trump returns to office next year. Trump sought to make it easier to fire career government employees during his last term, and has signaled he’d do so again if he returns to the White House.
