WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� On the rooftop patio of the General Services Administration headquarters, an agency staffer recently discovered something strange: a rectangular device attached to a wire that snaked across the roof, over the ledge and into the administrator鈥檚 window one floor below.
It didn鈥檛 take long for the employee 鈥� an IT specialist 鈥� to figure out the device was a transceiver that communicates with vast and private Starlink satellite network. Concerned that the equipment violated federal laws designed to protect public data, staffers reported the discovery to superiors and the agency鈥檚 internal watchdog.
The Starlink equipment raises a host of questions about what Musk are doing at GSA, an obscure agency that is playing an outsized role in the Trump administration鈥檚 quest to slash costs and bring the federal government to heel.
Among other clues that GSA is a critical cog in Musk's stated efforts to slash billions of dollars in federal spending: people with ties to the entrepreneur or his companies hold key jobs at the agency. Its acting administrator is a Silicon Valley tech executive who has expertise in rolling out artificial intelligence tools and whose wife once worked for Musk at his social media company, X.
An engineer at Tesla, the billionaire鈥檚 electric car company, runs the GSA鈥檚 technology division. And one of Musk鈥檚 trusted lieutenants is helping to spearhead the work of downsizing the government鈥檚 real estate footprint.
GSA oversees many of Uncle Sam鈥檚 real estate transactions, collecting and paying rent on behalf of almost every federal agency. It helps manage billions in federal contracts. And it assists other agencies in building better websites and digital tools for citizens.
It is so important because it is 鈥渁 choke point for all agencies,鈥� said Steven Schooner, a George Washington University law school professor who specializes in government contracting. 鈥淭hey can, in effect, stop all civilian agencies from purchasing, period. That鈥檚 everything.鈥�
In a statement in early March, GSA said it planned to get rid of 鈥渘on-core assets鈥� and welcomed 鈥渃reative solutions, including sale-lease backs, ground leases and other forms of public/private partnerships.鈥�
The search for those cuts has engulfed the entire 12,000-person agency. At the helm of that push is the GSA鈥檚 acting administrator, Stephen Ehikian, the tech executive whose wife worked for X.
鈥淕SA was built for this moment,鈥� Ehikian told employees last month in a meeting, a video of which was viewed by The Associated Press.
鈥淭his agency is the backbone of federal government operations,鈥� said Ehikian, who is seeking to expand automation 鈥� through the use of artificial intelligence 鈥� of many GSA functions. 鈥淲e literally have an impact on the administration鈥檚 mandate right now, which is around efficiency.鈥�
Unloading real estate
Another close Musk adviser 鈥� Nicole Hollander 鈥� is driving the initiative to unload the government鈥檚 real estate. Her husband, Steve Davis, is acting as the of the Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency.
Hollander, who studied business and real estate at George Washington University, is a licensed property manager in Washington, according to LinkedIn. Her profile also lists her as an employee of X since 2023.
In early March, the GSA real estate division of government-owned or leased properties it sought to sell in a frenzied rush.
The list drew sharp criticism from Democrats and civil society groups because it proposed the sale of the Justice Department headquarters and included at least one undisclosed Central Intelligence Agency facility. GSA quickly withdrew the list.
That did not stall DOGE's fire sale. In the presentation viewed by the AP, Ehikian said the agency has canceled more than 680 leases, listed or sold at least 32 properties worth $185 million and cut more than $50 billion in contracts.
Hollander has mostly operated behind the scenes. She rarely appears in Zoom meetings, according to employees. Documents obtained by the AP show spreadsheets she creates are stripped of her name and replaced with a more generic 鈥淕SA leadership.鈥�
The AP also obtained copies of some event invitations on Hollander鈥檚 calendar. They showed Hollander had several meetings with commercial real estate and services firms, including a brokerage firm and a real estate consulting company that helps companies economize their space. She also took meetings with a consortium of Washington technology companies.
Hollander did not respond to a request for comment sent over LinkedIn or through a GSA spokesperson.
It鈥檚 not the first time that Hollander has led a cost-cutting campaign for Musk. A in 2023 alleged that Hollander and Davis were part of a 鈥渃adre of sycophants鈥� who were particularly zealous in implementing Musk鈥檚 mandate overhaul of the social media company.
The the pair, following their boss鈥� orders, circumvented San Francisco building and safety codes, ignored their obligation to pay vendors and landlords and downsized without regard to the turmoil it caused employees or customers.
The couple, the lawsuit alleged, also lived at Twitter headquarters with their month-old child, mirroring Musk, who has a reputation for living at his company offices. That pattern appears to be repeating at GSA: Hollander has installed cots on the agency鈥檚 sixth floor, according to employees.
Attorneys for Musk and X have moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the Delaware federal court lacks jurisdiction and the lawsuit is legally groundless.
鈥楳ove Fast and Make Changes鈥�
Another employee installed by the Trump administration at GSA worked for Musk at Tesla.
Shortly after taking over GSA鈥檚 technology unit, Thomas Shedd told his workforce the goal was to 鈥渕ove fast and make changes,鈥� according to a transcript of the February meeting obtained by the AP. That's a variation on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg鈥檚 motto of moving fast and breaking things.
Shedd soon began demanding access to sensitive systems that enable the public to communicate or interact with government services, according to staffers who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisal.
Shedd鈥檚 request prompted pushback from existing GSA staff. One employee resigned rather than give Shedd access,
He also told staff he wanted to consolidate all the government contracts in a centralized database to more easily figure out which ones to eliminate, according to a transcript of the meeting. It鈥檚 not clear if he accomplished that goal. Shedd did not reply to emails seeking comment.
He and other GSA officials have also sought to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence. In March, employees were given a demo of a new internal AI chatbot that is designed to more speedily identify contracts and real estate that can be jettisoned. Government agencies like GSA have been hesitant to deploy AI in such ways due to data-security and privacy concerns, according to current and former officials.
Starlink mystery
It鈥檚 not known what role 鈥� if any 鈥� Starlink is playing in GSA鈥檚 technological evolution.
On the GSA roof, employees found at least two transceivers, including the one with a wire running to the administrator鈥檚 office. It is not clear why the agency is using Starlink. The network provides internet service but is not generally approved for use in most government computer systems.
IT staffers, who reported the discovery to superiors, were concerned that the devices were not authorized to be used at GSA and DOGE might be utilizing them to siphon off agency data, according to internal emails obtained by the AP and a GSA employee who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
GSA鈥檚 IT staff opened an investigation to see if the terminals were a security threat, and an employee filed a complaint with the GSA鈥檚 inspector general, the emails show. The status of those probes could not be determined.
The AP obtained photos 鈥� taken by a GSA employee 鈥� of the transceivers. And an AP staffer, using a telephoto lens, confirmed that a wire runs from the roof to a window to the administrator鈥檚 office. that several DOGE staffers working out of GSA had begun using Starlink terminals in February. It鈥檚 unclear if they鈥檙e the same terminals referred for investigation by IT staff in March.
A GSA spokesman confirmed the presence of Starlink transceivers but said they were not connected 鈥渢o GSA鈥檚 internal network, nor was there a security breach.鈥�
To many veterans of the agency, the irony of DOGE鈥檚 slash-and-burn approach to GSA is that it is jeopardizing one of the agency鈥檚 longstanding missions: improving government efficiency.
The agency, for example, had an in-house consulting shop that during the first Trump administration focused on improving government services, especially those relying on technology. Among its initiatives, the team helped create systems to allow Americans to file taxes online and was working to improve online passport renewal.
In the early weeks of the second Trump administration, DOGE officials gutted the team. Shedd defended that move, telling employees in a meeting that the team was eliminated because its work was not cost-effective, according to a transcript of his remarks.
Any reduction in headcount could also jeopardize the government鈥檚 ability to police contracts once they are issued to keep costs down.
Such decisions have baffled those who have tracked GSA鈥檚 work.
Amira Boland, a behavioral scientist at GSA during the first Trump administration, said that trimming government was a good idea but described some of DOGE鈥檚 cuts as 鈥渞eckless.鈥�
鈥淭here is certainly bureaucracy that needs to be eliminated,鈥� Boland said, 鈥渂ut you have to know the stakes you鈥檙e playing with.鈥�
___
Goodman reported from Miami and Burke from San Francisco.
___
Contact AP鈥檚 global investigative team at [email protected] or
Byron Tau, Joshua Goodman, Garance Burke And Brian Slodysko, The Associated Press
