Feds Ran Away From Twitter After Elon Musk’s Purchase

A lot has changed at Twitter since Elon Musk purchased the social media platform last fall.

One thing that’s coming to light now is how many former federal agents have fled the platform right around when Musk assumed control of Twitter as its CEO.

According to an analysis conducted by the Daily Caller, 28 people who once served as executives at the Department of Homeland Security, CIA, Department of Justice and FBI who Twitter employed ended up leaving the company in the few months after Musk took over. He officially assumed control of Twitter on October 27 of 2022.

The Daily Caller discovered this information after browsing through LinkedIn searches.

Reuters has reported that as early as last April, a mass exodus of Twitter staffers left the company once they found out Musk was going to be purchasing the social media platform. In November, Musk made good on his promise to slash costs, when he dismissed half of the full-time employees that Twitter had at the time.

Before making those layoffs, Musk had given staffers an ultimatum that if they weren’t committed to working “extremely hardcore,” then they should just simply leave Twitter altogether.

Back in December, Musk made an announcement right on Twitter that Jim Baker, a former agent at the FBI, would be exiting the company. The reasoning was that Baker helped to suppress The New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 presidential election. 

That story was highlighted as part of the Twitter Files, which Musk allowed to be released to some journalists a few months ago.

In addition to Baker, 27 other federal employees left Twitter right around the time that Musk acquired the company. 

Some of the titles those people held included senior staff technical program manager, head of corporate security, deputy general counsel and vice president, senior director for the trust and safety organization, senior corporate security analyst, senior analyst of global risk intelligence, director of strategy and initiatives, and embedded security manager.

In other words, these former federal employees were holding high-level positions within Twitter before Musk took over.

The number of ex-FBI agents who worked at Twitter was first brought to light back in December by a user with the handle Name Redacted. That account posted:

“1. @elonmusk, Your new company @Twitter has many ex FBI/CIA agents in high ranks. Should probably do a little housecleaning.”

While all of these former federal employees are gone from Twitter, the social media company still employs nine people who once worked for the FBI, according to the search conducted by the Daily Caller. 

The titles of some of these people include senior director of trust and safety, director of information security, and corporate security manager.

So, while a lot of those former federal employees are now gone, Musk is still employing some. And all of these people worked for more than 15 years at the FBI before they ame to Twitter.