By Robert Anderson
I was fired, along with thousands of other members of the federal government. I want to share this story with my friends and family, not because I’m looking for sympathy, but because many people around me don’t seem to know what’s going on and it’s a big fucking deal — not just for me or the other people fired, but for the whole country.
I was hired in August of 2023 to work on a project on wildfire risk in the American West. Our work aimed to understand how communities across the country are adapting to reduce wildfire risk, and to share best practices and information about wildfire reduction, as well as supporting more effective forest management by the U.S. Forest Service, my now former employer.
That project’s outcomes have been absolutely decimated by the firings over the weekend, as has all of the work the Forest Service is doing to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, not to mention the agency’s broader role in managing America’s forested lands and fostering healthy ecosystems and economic growth in rural communities. And that’s just one agency — there are of course others working to support human health, provide education to children, support economic development, cure disease, support disaster recovery, and SO MUCH MORE.
Across the board, these federal agencies have been slashed — over the Valentine’s Day weekend, while the country was distracted in a thousand other ways — by thousands of employees. No one really knows exactly how many have been fired, or how many more will be in the coming weeks. They have started by firing workers described as “probationary,” which doesn’t mean those people ever did anything wrong — it only means that they have a shorter term of experience in their job, less than one or two years, depending on the category. Personally, I was at 18 months in my role. This category of workers has fewer civil protections, making them easier to fire, although the agencies they work for are still supposed to explain the cause.
I was told via email the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 16th, that my “performance” was the reason for my termination, without any further explanation. I have had stellar performance reviews throughout my time with the agency, as have so many of the colleagues I’ve heard from who have likewise been dismissed. It is clear that “probationary” employees are just being systematically eliminated without cause. It seems likely that this is only the first step in a comprehensive dismantling of the federal government workforce, and therefore most or all of the services it provides.
A handful of people have said to me, well, maybe you should have taken the buyout offer they gave you. To be clear: I did, or at least I tried. After being told repeatedly that I would continue to receive my salary for the next several months if I resigned, via the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation plan that’s been in the news a lot lately, I was informed on Sunday that I was not eligible, at the same moment that I was fired. As far as I’ve heard, no one seems to be eligible for deferred resignation.
From where I stand, it looks like the “buyout” program is a massive fiction, concocted by the new administration, so they can point to maybe a small handful of folks who actually got a payout and say, “well, we gave them all a choice,” even as they proceed to fire tens of thousands of people who actually had NO choice and no recourse.
Again, I’m not writing this for sympathy. I’ve got prospects for new opportunities, and I’m fairly confident I’ll land on my feet job-wise. I’m also not writing this to score political points, though it’s probably clear I support education, health care, disaster reduction, and resilient ecosystems for Americans of all identities. These things are being rapidly and systematically destroyed under the new government of the Trump administration. And most of the media this weekend seems to be focused on the Eric Adams scandal, or else the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, while this is happening right under our noses. I’m writing this because I just hope people know what’s going on.
I’m deeply sad, and I can’t sleep, hence I’m writing and posting this at 1 a.m. I’m sending all my love and support to my colleagues, and federal government workers across the country — and asking anybody who reads this to speak up, share your story or listen to someone else’s, make noise in the streets and with your elected officials, and generally make sure everyone across the country knows what’s happening right now.
This was originally posted by Robert Anderson on Feb. 17, 2025.