On Monday afternoon, more than 350 federal websites from a list of nearly 1,400 provided by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) were inaccessible. This included sites related to key government departments such as defense, commerce, energy, transportation, and labor, along with those of the CIA and the Supreme Court. The exact cause of the disruption was unclear, as it wasn't known whether these sites were temporarily down or taken offline by order of the Trump administration.
This incident comes as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to drastically reduce the size of the US government. Elon Musk, leading the efforts under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been a prominent figure in this cost-cutting initiative. Musk has called for the shutdown of USAID, labeling the agency, which provides relief programs globally, a "criminal organization."
Additionally, reports indicate that the Trump administration has ordered the removal of LGBTQ references from various US government websites, including major public health agencies. This follows a directive to cease taxpayer-funded programs promoting "gender ideology." The removal of HIV and LGBTQ-related data from the CDC’s website has raised alarm among health experts, who warn that such actions create gaps in critical health information, especially as public health threats like HIV and sexually transmitted diseases persist.