US civil servants fearful, outraged over their names, photos, diversity ‘offences’ listed online

WASHINGTON – Federal workers across US health agencies say they are nervous and on edge after a conservative group published more than 50 of their names and photos on a website that at one point described them as “targets”.

The so-called “DEI watchlist”, registered in November 2024, triggered alarm among civil servants as it gained traction amid US President Donald Trump’s efforts to purge the government of positions and programmes related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

The website – which initially described the workers as “targets” – now displays “dossiers” for workers it claims have promoted such initiatives, most of whom are black and women.

The group behind it, the non-profit American Accountability Foundation, says it plans to add another 40 names on Feb 11.

One federal worker profiled by the site expressed personal safety concerns when alerted by a colleague to the list and its tipline.

“First, it was a little bit of fear,” the person, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told AFP.

“Is my life about to change forever? Then, I think it turned into a bit of anger.”

Dr Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said he felt “dismayed” to see the website named mostly people of colour who are not major policymakers, including friends he said have gone “absolutely silent”.

“It shocks me, hurts me, makes me afraid for my friends,” he told AFP. “They’re ruining lives.”

He said the use of photos was especially troubling and likened it to the harassment faced by Ms Ruby Freeman, a Georgia elections worker falsely accused of fraud in 2020 who later received millions of dollars after filing defamation lawsuits.

“People have done this kind of doxxing before, and it puts people at physical risk.”

DEI ‘offences’

Each worker’s page contains her or his name, photo, job title and other publicly available information under the headline: “A quick summary of DEI offences.”

Those “offences” include donating to Democrats and using pronouns online. They also include posting – or interacting with – messages supportive of Black Lives Matter or critical of Mr Trump.

One person’s “dossier” highlights how she liked a LinkedIn post from a connection who contributed to a book on race.

Another was singled out for helping people sign up for the Affordable Care Act during an internship roughly a decade ago. A third had updated their Facebook profile picture during the coronavirus pandemic to say, “Stay Home Save Lives”.

One of the few white people included is listed for a prior role with the Environmental Defence Fund, a non-profit environmental advocacy group.

The federal worker who spoke to AFP said many people featured on the website focus on issues of health equity, such as offering mobile health screenings in low-income neighbourhoods.

The American Accountability Foundation has previously published lists of workers at other agencies, such as the US Department of Homeland Security, where it identified officials it accused of hindering efforts to secure the border.

In 2024, the group received a US$100,000 (S$135,700) grant from the Heritage Foundation, which produced the controversial Project 2025 memo laying out a vision for Mr Trump’s administration.

Spokesman Yitz Friedman rejected concerns that the new “DEI watchlist” could endanger workers as a “false premise”, saying the fears are “based on a hypothetical”.

He said his team have themselves received threats since the launch of the website.

“We simply reviewed public information,” Mr Friedman told AFP, saying the group created the site to “expose” government workers who push “extreme, left-wing, racist ideologies”.

But the federal worker who spoke to AFP said of hearing that some others on the list had pizzas anonymously delivered to their homes last week, an act the person described as “a message to say, ‘We know where you live’”.

More than a dozen of the workers named appear to have deleted their LinkedIn profiles. One wrote on Instagram that he scrubbed his bio because he was “being harassed”.

The “DEI watchlist” is now the top result Google returns when searching some of the workers’ names, an AFP analysis found.

The worker told AFP they consulted a lawyer, filed a hate crime complaint with a state attorney-general, and alerted lawmakers and the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People civil rights group. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also been contacted.

“We are even more dedicated now to staying in our jobs and fighting back,” the person said, adding that the “DEI watchlist” is “creating our class-action lawsuit for us”. AFP