Some of the latest employees on the chopping block at tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency task force are Food and Drug Administration staff who oversee regulation of one of Musk's companies, Reuters reported Monday evening.
Layoffs at the FDA, according to Rachael Levy and Marisa Taylor, include "about 20 people in the FDA’s office of neurological and physical medicine devices, several of whom worked on Neuralink, according to the two sources, who asked not to be identified because of fear of professional repercussions. That division includes reviewers overseeing clinical-trial applications by Neuralink and other companies making so-called brain-computer interface devices, the sources said."
The idea behind Neuralink is for the implants to directly interface with people's brains and allow people to control things in their environment with thought, an idea that theoretically has numerous applications for people with paralysis and other physical disabilities.
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The development of this technology, however, has been controversial, with early trials in monkeys reportedly leading to horrific deaths — something Musk denied.
"The dismissal letters sent to the FDA reviewers cited performance reasons, even though the employees had no issues on their prior performance, and had received top-notch rankings several weeks ago, according to the two sources familiar with the matter," said the report. "The supervisors of the cut employees weren’t consulted before the mass layoffs and found out from their employees, the sources said."
This is not the first time questions have been raised about conflicts of interest in how Musk has used DOGE, which has separately faced scandals over its young advisers' distasteful online activities, to dismantle key government agencies.
For example, Musk's enthusiasm over eviscerating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that oversees financial institutions' misconduct toward consumers, has raised suspicion as Musk prepares for his X social media platform to roll out financial services.