hhmx.de

Molly White

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 00:04:54

The people who are now in charge of the Office of Personnel Management apparently don’t know how to scrub PDF metadata, and have exposed the original authors of the guidance they’re publishing. Two have links to the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025.

Noah Peters is the author of the OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell’s January 27 memo (archive) providing guidance on the “Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” executive order, which is being described as the “Schedule F” order because it effectively reinstates that policy under a new name (“Schedule Policy/Career”). Peters also authored the January 20 memo (archive) from Ezell, which exploits loopholes to bypass limits on political appointments. Both of these memos are clear steps towards achieving a primary goal of Project 2025: to expand President Trump’s power, and to replace career civil servants with Trump loyalists.

As far back as 2023, The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 was recommending Peters for a position in Trump’s second administration. Peters had previously been appointed by Trump in 2019 as the Solicitor at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, where he “aided and defended Trump appointees’ anti-union FLRA policies that went against decades of the agency’s own precedents” according to Court Accountability Action and State Democracy Defenders Action.4 Peters returned to private practice in 2022, but recently quietly updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect a new title of “Senior Advisor” to the Office of Personnel Management. This appointment does not appear to have been announced anywhere else.

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pdfinfo Memo\ Lifting\ Caps\ on\ TTCs\ 1-20-2025.pdf
Subject:         Correspondence on official letterhead
Author:          Peters, Noah
Creator:         Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365
Producer:        Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365
CreationDate:    Mon Jan 20 16:09:32 2025 EST
ModDate:         Mon Jan 20 17:12:25 2025 EST

pdfinfo OPM\ Memorandum\ re\ Schedule\ Policy\ Career\ Guidance\ 01-27-2025.pdf
Subject:         Correspondence on official letterhead
Author:          Peters, Noah
Creator:         Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365
Producer:        Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365
CreationDate:    Mon Jan 27 07:48:43 2025 EST
ModDate:         Mon Jan 27 07:48:43 2025 EST

Headshot of Noah Peters

(Medien: 3)

Molly White

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 00:28:54

Update: The OPM has now scrubbed the PDF metadata. However, the archived copies linked from my website contain the original metadata if you wish to verify.

Molly White

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:03:38

From r/fednews:
(unverified, obviously)

tacnextgen

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:13:54

@molly0xfff Unverified, but completely believable.

Ben Ramsey

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:16:08

@molly0xfff I think this is what this executive order is for: whitehouse.gov/presidential-ac

It’s also one of the main points that Project 2025 wanted to enact, giving the President wide-reaching control over federal employees.

Hal Pomeranz

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:19:14

@molly0xfff An on-prem Exchange server perhaps? That’s a security incident waiting to happen.

viq

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:34:07

@hal_pomeranz @molly0xfff it sounds a bit like "someone, we don't really know who, brought in a server we don't control", which sounds like a security incident in progress.

the vessel of morganna

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 08:36:01

@hal_pomeranz @molly0xfff That's just par for the course for US government networks. Some departments do have hybrid deployments that terminate on Azure, but on-prem exchange is still extremely common.

Grueproof

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:25:33

@molly0xfff Well, shit.

TaylorOno

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:42:59

@molly0xfff perhaps it is a good time to make sure this is being circulated cia.gov/static/5c875f3ec660e09

ShadSterling

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 01:57:20

@molly0xfff for any other readers who don’t know, an “RIF notice” is a “Reduction In Force notice”, basically a layoff (tho there are some differences)

fedemploymentattorneys.com/leg

Mr. Framework :verified_bi:

Föderation ES Di 28.01.2025 02:15:11

@ShadSterling @molly0xfff they are basically dismantling the US

Secret Squirrel

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 02:28:02

@molly0xfff I just don't understand what the point is. If they can email every fed, why the "reply with yes" crap? They already know the email address. I don't doubt some stupid and/or evil plan, but I think I'm missing something.

SaftyKuma

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 02:34:45

@Secret_Squirrel @molly0xfff

My wild guess is that they just want to validate the email addresses are valid and just to test the servers.

I think the idea of storing data on private servers owned by Musk & friends is to shield them from FOIA requests or congressional / legal oversight down the road.

jandi

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 12:39:01

@SaftyKuma @Secret_Squirrel @molly0xfff Exactly, like the spammers & scammers they are.

Jonathan Kamens

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 02:57:36

@Secret_Squirrel @molly0xfff They may want to confirm that the server can handle the load of all those replies.
They may want proof that you are receiving the messages so you can't claim later that you aren't.

Ordovician

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 04:07:52

@jik @Secret_Squirrel @molly0xfff My small part in local government tells me this is their intent. It was a big part in @$$ covering and very intentional that you acknowledged a condition existed.

Ordovician

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 18:44:41

@Secret_Squirrel It seemed like a pervasive situation and was to confirm you knew or to make you complicit. You acknowledged that something existed and then chose to either disclose or not.

Ryan M

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 03:01:39

@Secret_Squirrel @molly0xfff my super cynical thought is they’re, in part, collecting replies to find all the employees with pronouns & DEIA keywords in their signatures. I hope most, if they reply yes, are deleting the rest.

Blackoverflow

Föderation EN Mi 29.01.2025 17:34:48

@Secret_Squirrel
Maybe it's also the "Foot-in-the-door technique".

Make them comply on something harmless, so they are more likely to comply in the future.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot-i

Phosphenes

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 03:18:11

@molly0xfff

God I hope this shit implodes ASAP.

We're going to lose a lot either way.

Mark Aylward 🇨🇦

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 03:29:51

@molly0xfff Molly White, I’m following you solely so I can watch evidence hit my feed that leads to an indictable offence for Donald Trump. Keep digging. 🙏

suzanne

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 18:06:07

@im_mark_aylward
I have a feeling that there will be sooooo many by the time they're through.
@molly0xfff @TeflonTrout

the vessel of morganna

Föderation EN Di 28.01.2025 08:37:38

@molly0xfff "walking onto the premises to setup a server" is a little bit of a weird way of putting it, they wouldn't really need to do that. If some gear was installed in their offices outside of the scope of their IT folks, far more nefarious purposes are likely rather than just an email server...