In an email to employees of the US general services administration (GSA) seen by Reuters, the GSA’s director of technology transformation services Thomas Shedd said the team — known as 18F — had been identified as “non-critical”.

A GSA source said the roughly 90 18F employees were immediately locked out of their devices.

First launched in 2014 under former president Barack Obama, the 18F team was housed within GSA and helped federal agencies improve their digital services.

It was tasked with improving federal website accessibility, modernising technology, enhancing data access, and making the government’s customer service experience more user-friendly.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s department of government efficiency team (DOGE), earlier this month responded to a post on X that called 18F a “far left government-wide computer office” by saying the group has been “deleted”.

The IRS’s free direct-file tax website is currently still online.

GSA did not immediately return a message seeking comment.