Orange County resident describes "toxic environment" in D.C.

Newly retired federal official objects to hiring freezes, mass firings and erasure of institutional history

On Saturday afternoon, I sat down with a career federal employee who had retired just days earlier. After 32 years of service in national security—most recently, for the Department of Energy—the Orange County resident gave 48 hours’ notice and called it quits. The barrage of change and disruption, starting on January 20, was too much.

The senior officia…