Mike Whitaker, the previous FAA administrator, stepped down on Inauguration Day after just over a year on the job. He’d repeatedly clashed with Elon Musk — now in charge of a group tasked with slashing the government’s headcount by President Donald Trump — over safety issues at his space company,

Elon Musk, CEO and owner of X, was tasked by Trump with reducing the 2.2 million federal workforce. Musk swiftly took action to reform US government agencies. However, reports are emerging in the media about interference with computer systems containing the personal data of millions of federal employees.

DOGE director Elon Musk has shut out senior government workers and seized control of key workflows in the Office of Personnel Management, causing major security concerns, a source told Reuters. The Office of Personnel Management functions as the government’s human resources agency,