I’ll take a stab at answering letter-writer James Mayotte’s questions. I’m protesting DOGE because there are 19 to 24-year-old programmers that have not been vetted for security and have access to sensitive information. Elon Musk hasn’t been vetted, and we know he is funding candidates in foreign elections. DOGE is sending termination letters not knowing what the government employees do. An example is the Department of Agriculture. Employees tracking Avian Flu and employing methods to stop the spread: terminated. FAA employees inspect, repair and certify airport equipment: eliminated. There’s been no confirmed accounting of the savings that are touted and, when fact checked, turn out to be false. I wonder if Elon’s $8 Billion in contracts with the government will be pared down.

You are right: There are many non-elected officials that have a say in what government agencies do, but they follow the law. Congress authorized the departments to protect our air, water, food, drugs and voting rights. No one person should decide which rules to follow or eliminate.Trump said the DOJ was weaponized against him, but the fact is that there was enough evidence for a grand jury to agree to indite him, and the case should have gone to trial. Now that Trump is back in, he stated publicly he wants the U.S. Attorney General to go after the people who investigated him, career employees who just did their job. If that isn’t weaponizing the DOJ, what would you call it?

Thomas Kolling

Concord