Fearing a Trump crackdown, some federal workers are now using encryption apps to communicate

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published 2 February 2017

President Trump's takeover has prompted federal employees to think twice about how they communicate, Politico reported Thursday. Shortly after Trump was sworn in, a "small group of career employees" at the Environmental Protection Agency reportedly downloaded the encryption app Signal to make it harder for hackers to access their conversations about how to deal with Trump's political appointees.

The EPA employees wanted to be able to discuss what to do if the appointees "undermine their agency's mission to protect public health and the environment, flout the law, or delete valuable scientific data," Politico reported. One EPA employee even went so far as to buy a "new, more secure cell phone."

The EPA isn't the only agency making strategic communication moves. Politico reported that the Foreign Services and those "on the edges" of the Labor Department have also started using "new technology as well as more old-fashioned approaches — such as private face-to-face meetings — to organize letters, talk strategy, or contact media outlets and other groups to express their dissent." In the Labor Department, for instance, some employees are using their private email addresses to send around a letter for senators to sign to oppose the nomination of Andy Puzder, Trump's nominee for labor secretary.

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"I have no idea where this is going to go," an EPA employee told Politico. "I think we're all just taking it one day at a time and respond in a way that seems appropriate and right."