“Easily hundreds” of U.S. federal employees from 22 federal agencies may walk off their jobs this Tuesday, Jan. 16, to protest the administration’s support for the destruction of Gaza and its people. Organizers of the action, remaining anonymous for the moment but calling themselves “Feds United for Peace,” told Al-Monitor that they have commitments to participate from individuals in at least 22 agencies, among them the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Agency, the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Naval Research Laboratory, Food and Drug Administration, and others.
House Speaker Mike Johnson considered the report credible enough to post a threat on his X account Sunday night, Jan. 14, demanding that anyone who walks out be fired: “Any government worker who walks off the job to protest U.S. support for our ally Israel is ignoring their responsibility and abusing the trust of taxpayers. They deserve to be fired. Oversight Chairman Comer and I will be working together to ensure that each federal agency initiates appropriate disciplinary proceedings against any person who walks out on their job,” he threatened.
Al-Monitor reported that the organizers of the protest say that “rather than quit, they felt `a moral obligation and a patriotic duty’ to influence change from inside. They blamed the White House for policy decisions they lament, including the obstruction of ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations and weapons sales to Israel that have bypassed Congress.”
