On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that remade what was the U.S. Digital Service into the United States DOGE Service, a move that preceded the departure of many of that team’s previous staff.
Since then, a group of former USDS-ers has coalesced to form an organization to support federal workers known as We the Builders.
“We are a storytelling organization who’s supporting federal workers, but also trying to explain the moment,” the organization’s leader Kate Green told Nextgov/FCW. She last worked in USDS in the fall of 2024. At this point, the group also includes people from other corners of the federal government.
The We the Builders website — crafted with the same web design system used by many federal government websites — declares, “We built the tools millions of Americans use every single day to access government services … If they really wanted to know how to use technology to build a more efficient country, they would ask us. But they haven’t. They are destroyers. We are the builders.”
The site hosts a series of blogs and stories, as well as a timeline built by the group detailing DOGE’s work and, as the website reads, “what we would’ve done.”
Since the start of Trump 2.0, the administration has pursued aggressive cuts to the federal workforce. Technology employees already working at what was USDS when it became DOGE are among those that have been laid off. The government’s internal tech consultancy, 18F, was also shuttered in March.
DOGE has also garnered attention, and lawsuits, for hoovering up government data and working on government technology.
“What we have here are a bunch of failing computer systems that are preventing people from receiving their benefits, that are preventing research from happening, that are extremely vulnerable to fraud, and we’re fixing it,” Elon Musk — who has helmed DOGE’s work — previously said of his efforts.
“I agree that there are pieces of the government that aren’t efficient, and I agree that sometimes you have to move quickly,” said Green. “But I disagree with the Silicon Valley approach of move fast and break things.”
We the Builders also runs ALT US Digital Service on social media platform Bluesky, “the official resistance team of the U.S. Digital Service.” It is one of many #AltGov accounts, such as those for NASA and DOD.
The group is also collaborating with and trying to help other, similar organizations, another person involved in We the Builders told Nextgov/FCW. As a current software engineer who works for the federal government, they were granted anonymity since they are not authorized to speak to the press.
“There are others that have spun up from the wreckage and have slightly different missions, but are also trying to organize and engage and activate federal workers [and] former federal workers, and keep information flowing out and keeping people informed,” they added.
Former 18F employees have set up their own website, too, with resources like the blog archives from the now-shuttered tech consultancy. That group is one of several that Green said We the Builders is collaborating with, noting that part of the endeavor is also about “looking ahead to be sure that we’re ready to rebuild at the time where we have to.”
The organization is also working on getting 501(c)3 status for tax-exempt charitable organizations. For now, it’s working under the sponsorship of the nonprofit Good Trouble Project. Fundraising pushes are also on the horizon.
For Green, the effort is personal.
“I’m getting to see people have hope at a time when everything feels like it’s falling over,” she said.
