Foreign adversaries, private sector, state governments may swoop in to recruit fired federal workers, experts say

Thousands of federal workers nationwide have been forced out of their jobs by the Trump administration as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s says it aims to improve the government and cut down waste.

From park rangers and Department of Veterans Affairs social workers to scientists and foreign relations experts, the workers have decades of experience and knowledge that are crucial to their fields.

With that wealth of knowledge and experience, labor and security experts told ABC News that those fired federal workers are being recruited by private firms and foreign governments, which they said raises the risk of security threats against the United States.

“From an intelligence and law enforcement perspective, the potential for foreign intelligence forces to recruit government workers is hot,” said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former acting undersecretary for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security.

At the same time, state and local governments could step up to fill in their offices with that talent as President Donald Trump seeks to shift many roles and responsibilities out of the federal government.

“It would be an easy transition for them and, in the end, benefit the public, which needs their experience now,” Victor Narro, a professor of labor studies at the Labor Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, told ABC News.

Workers ripe for the picking by private sector

Narro, who has worked in Los Angeles city public boards and commissions and on a U.S. Agency for International Development project, said one of the biggest things being overlooked in DOGE’s mass firings is the fact that many of these employees had strong training from top colleges and chose to have a career in public office instead of the private sector.

“A lot of public sector employees give up jobs in the private sector because they care about being a public worker,” he said. “They all know they could have made a lot more money and had more benefits.”

What federal workers may lack in salary, they can make up in connections with policymakers and organizations, as well as access to government data and knowledge. It is common for federal workers who leave the public sector to take that knowledge to private sector jobs, such as consulting firms that specialize in the environment, national security and healthcare, Cohen said.

The unprecedented mass firing of federal workers may lead to the creation of new private sector organizations made up of those workers, Cohen said.

“It would be hard to think that those employees wouldn’t be in demand,” he said.

In fact, billionaire Mark Cuban pitched an idea in a post on March 1 that those fired workers band together and start their own consulting company.

“It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably created. They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms. I’m happy to invest and/or help,” the Shark Tank host wrote.

There have been no public updates about Cuban’s proposal since the post as of March 18.

Foreign national threat increased

Cohen said Cuban’s proposal has some merit, but he warned that not everyone offering a helping hand will have altruistic intentions.

In fact, he warned offers could very well be ruses designed by foreign adversaries.

Cohen said counterintelligence operations throughout history have targeted disgruntled federal employees who are left in despair and with no way to pay off their expenses and debts.

Each fired worker, from those at the Social Security Administration, who have knowledge about the U.S. benefits system, to nuclear engineers, could be a perfect asset to intelligence agencies in Russia, China and other nations, Cohen said.

Additionally, general knowledge about the inner workings of federal offices, personalities of top officials and other information could be appealing to adversaries, he said.

“It’s not just classified information that is valuable,” he said.

Cohen said Trump and Musk’s belittling of the federal workers as lazy, inefficient and not useful for the government will help make it easier for foreign recruiters to make their case.

“It’s a standard recruitment tool. You find that sense of grievance, you fan the flames and you get them to cooperate because they are angry at what was done to them,” he said.

Those same operations have also found success through more shady tactics, Cohen said.

He noted that there have been cases where federal employees have unknowingly worked for foreign governments posing as private U.S. companies or have been closely working with legitimate companies already operating in the U.S., clouding evidence of foreign intervention.

“It could be something as simple as offering someone to write a research paper and pay a lot for it or give a speech at a conference,” Cohen said. “From there, it could lead to something long term.”

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told reporters at news conferences this week that this is playing out in her state, saying on Wednesday, “What has happened is you have other governments, from China, from the Middle East, from around the world, coming into this country, coming into campuses in Massachusetts and basically saying, ‘Hey the federal government is going to take away your funding and take away your research come to our country. We’ll give you a lab. We’ll set you up. We’ll give you a staff. And you can pioneer the new technologies on our shores.'”

“That’s not putting America first,” she added.

Typically, the federal government prompts workers to do their due diligence and refrain from working with anyone appearing to have foreign government ties, but Cohen said it is going to be difficult to self-police this on such a massive scale.

“The government has to rely on someone’s patriotism and their sense of ethics to willingly not support a foreign intelligence service. But very often, a person may not know they are being recruited,” he said.

State, local governments to the rescue?

The recruitment efforts, however, aren’t limited to foreign entities and private companies. State and local governments are now seeking to fill their offices with the displaced talent.

Earlier this month, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the “You’re Hired” campaign, which encourages fired federal workers to go to New York and apply for jobs in various state agencies. The state placed ads in Union Station that redirected them to a website with state job offerings.

“We’re looking for qualified, experienced candidates across a wide variety of fields. I need technologists, I need engineers, I need attorneys, healthcare workers, educators, public policy experts and so many more,” Hochul told reporters at a news conference on March 3.

“I’m in competition for the top attorneys, the top engineers [and] people to work at the Department of Financial Services,” she added. “In a place like New York City, there’s a lot of higher-paying jobs. So these are special people who walk away from those jobs and those opportunities and come here, and I want to let them know that we will take care of them.”

As of March 18, over 200 people have signed up for webinars hosted by the New York State Department of Labor, according to the governor’s office.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, have started similar campaigns.

Narro said it is not surprising that local governments would take the opportunity to fill their offices, given that many are now bracing for extra responsibilities following the DOGE cuts.

At the same time, there is no guarantee that those local governments can take in all of those workers, he said.

“A lot of it depends on the state. You have a better chance of getting a public job in New York versus Iowa because of the number of offices, departments and ultimately the budget,” Narro said.

Cohen and Narro added that Trump’s pledge to give more power to the states, particularly education, but no details on how they would get the funding to do so has also left many states in limbo when it comes to recruitment.

“It’s great that the states are coming up with these programs, but if they can’t commit, you’re going to have more frustrated federal workers,” Cohen said.

Can the damage be undone?

Narro noted that the situation with fired federal workers is still fluid as court cases play out and some of the firings have been stopped or reversed.

However, the uncertainty alone could be devastating to the future of the federal workforce.

“People’s families depend on stability, and if they can not keep up with the changing decisions, they may just quit altogether,” Narro said. “I suspect this is what Trump and Musk are seeking to do in their strategy.”

Narro said that even if Trump’s and Musk’s policies are reversed by a future administration, there could be long-term damage.

“In the end of the day, the public loses out the most,” he said. “It’s going to be harder for anyone to consider giving up a private job and dedicating their talents to serving the public if this is how they will be treated.”