When the new ‘department of government efficiency’ sent young techies to disrupt federal agencies, not everyone complied. Here’s what happened when one worker fought to protect immigrant data

In the early hours of Saturday 22 February 2025 the following email landed in the inboxes of the entire US federal workforce:

From: HR hr@opm.gov

A Princeton researcher found that publicly available election records could be combined with AI to link voters to their ballots

When voters cast their ballots, their votes are supposed to remain secret: from their family, their neighbors, and the government.

But what if artificial intelligence could make secret votes visible?