On the brink of Election Day, some career federal employees are bracing for — or even fearing — further escalation of online threats against them, and the potential exposure of their personally identifiable information.

In light of the rising tensions, the Department of Justice Gender Equality Network (DOJ GEN), an employee group representing nearly 2,000 career DOJ employees, is urging the department’s leadership to ramp up its response to the online threats many career federal workers continue to face.

In an Oct. 31 letter addressed to Justice Department leadership, the employee group pointed to what it said has been an uptick in doxxing and other online threats against career staff members since the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021. The group raised concerns about the likelihood of the 2024 presidential election and its aftermath worsening the issue.

“Novel threats that extend well beyond senior department leadership have intensified employees’ fears,” DOJ GEN President Stacey Young and DOJ GEN member Jay Sinha wrote in the letter. “For example, DOJ employees have recently appeared on online ‘target’ lists, and reporting revealed that organizations are planning to dox hundreds of federal servants for their perceived political or ideological leanings.”

DOJ employees have experienced threats in a variety of forms — for example, by receiving threatening letters in the mail, or being harassed on social media platforms, such as X. Some employees have also faced threats of doxxing: having their personal information, such as a home address, email or phone number, maliciously published online.

Employees working in DOJ’s U.S. attorneys’ offices, the civil rights division and the FBI, as well as those working on immigration cases, can be particularly targeted, according to DOJ GEN.

Threats against career federal employees have also risen as Election Day has neared. For example, an Oct. 28 report from ProPublica revealed recent comments from Russell Vought, former director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Trump administration. In a private speech, Vought said he would plan to put career civil servants “in trauma,” and that he wants them to “not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.”

“We have no idea what it’s going to look like in the upcoming weeks or months,” one DOJ employee, speaking anonymously to protect themselves from a possible escalation of online threats, said in an interview with Federal News Network. “It’s a scary time.”

An “escalation of attacks” against career feds

In September, Attorney General Merrick Garland acknowledged the “escalation of attacks” that has occurred against career DOJ workers over the last few years.

“These attacks have come in the form of conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence,” Garland said in a message to DOJ career staff. “Through your continued work, you have made clear that the Justice Department will not be intimidated by these attacks. But it is dangerous — and outrageous — that you have to endure them.”

While all employees could be at risk, women, as well as people of color, LGBTQ individuals and other marginalized groups, are disproportionately affected by the growing threats, DOJ GEN said.

“Not only are members of these communities more likely to be doxxed, but the harm can be more pronounced,” DOJ GEN wrote. “In all cases, the effects on workers’ mental health, professional and personal reputations, finances, and physical safety can be devastating.”

Debra D’Agostino, a founding partner of the Federal Practice Group law firm, said an agency such as DOJ can be held liable in cases where employees have notified the agency of harassment, but the agency doesn’t take prompt, corrective action to ensure the harassment is stopped.

“By [DOJ GEN] saying that these protected classes are being disproportionately impacted, DOJ better respond and show that it’s taking action to at least do its best to prevent further harassment,” D’Agostino said in an interview with Federal News Network. “I think that DOJ would be wise to treat this as essentially a complaint of harassment and respond accordingly … They can be on the hook if they don’t take steps to protect the employee, after the employee has rung the bell.”

DOJ employees push for centralized “triage team”

Though DOJ GEN acknowledged in its letter that the department does take threats to employees seriously, the employee group said at the same time there’s a lack of structure at the agency for effectively responding to online threats and the malicious exposure of personally identifiable information. Although the department has “considerable experience” managing online threats against DOJ leadership, the employee group warned that the threats have extended beyond that.

“It is the significant expansion of these threats to career personnel, and the growing sale of personal information, that raises the need for immediate action,” the group wrote. “Already, DOJ GEN members have not known where to turn when they have been targeted online, and they have not received adequate support from DOJ.”

DOJ GEN is calling on the department to create a centralized platform where employees can report any threatening instances they have experienced. The group also recommended that DOJ create a “triage team” to analyze and respond to employees’ submitted reports.

Some agency components do have options for employees to report threats they receive, but DOJ GEN said having a central response unit at DOJ would help the agency respond more quickly to a problem that’s “fast-moving [and] multi-faceted.”

A DOJ spokesperson said the agency is currently reviewing the recommendations in DOJ GEN’s letter, adding that the agency takes all threats to DOJ employees seriously.

“We continue to encourage our employees to report to their management any perceived threat, and we will take all appropriate action to keep them safe both on and off the job,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

How career feds can protect themselves

For federal employees to try to better protect themselves, D’Agostino said one “safer course of action” is to avoid posting work-related content on their social media accounts.

“What’s terrifying is how easy it is to identify folks online and then identify so many things about them. It’s darn near impossible to stay anonymous these days,” D’Agostino said. “I think agencies probably want to revisit how they are listing their employees. There is a shocking amount of information out there about who’s working for these agencies … I don’t believe the government has done a good job of locking this information down and making sure that it’s secure.”

The mechanisms for reporting instances of harassment or threats should also be information that’s accessible to every single federal employee, D’Agostino added.

Michael Fallings, a partner at law firm Tully Rinckey, said generally, federal employees facing these types of threats should contact local authorities and, where possible, report the threats to their employing agencies.

“To the extent federal employees do not receive a response to their complaints or reports of these threats that they’re receiving, they could file further complaints that their government agency hasn’t taken effective action,” Fallings said. “Those reports could go to their whistleblower offices, or equal employment offices.”

The FBI has also published a document offering general guidance for responding to threats and intimidation, with specific tips based on whether the threat occurs in person, over the phone, through an electronic message or via a cyber attack.

Some employees have taken further steps to try to protect themselves against online threats, such as purchasing commercial identity protection services. In its letter, DOJ GEN said one of its members, who prosecutes Jan. 6 insurrection cases, called the services a “lifesaver.”

Currently, DOJ doesn’t pay for these services, which can help protect employees. Instead, impacted employees are left to pay out of pocket.

“In cases where people are being threatened, DOJ will recommend that people sign up for these services, but there is a cost associated with that,” the anonymous DOJ employee said. “The burden is on the employee to cover the subscription services. There’s no department subsidy. These are people doing their job and they’re expected to foot that bill. That shouldn’t be the case, and that’s what I hope will change.”

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.