Steven Reilly, the engineering lead for notify.gov, left the Technology Transformation Services arm of the General Services Administration after the branch’s new director, Thomas Shedd, sought administrative access to all components of the notify.gov site, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues. Shedd worked at Tesla for eight years and now runs the part of the GSA that hosts technologists who are deployed to provide access to a wide variety of government services, a unit he has called “Swiss army knives.”
He sought access last week to more than 20 government systems, according to a screenshot obtained by The Washington Post.
Notify.gov, one such system, says that it aims to provide secure and personalized messaging to facilitate public outreach from government agencies and that all federal agencies and programs are eligible to use it.
Reilly had been in charge of that system until Tuesday. He said he objected to Shedd’s ability to view phone numbers “and variable data for members of the public,” Reilly wrote, information he “would be able to download and store … without anybody else receiving a notification.”
He could also grant the same access to others, Reilly wrote.
“We have not received a justification for this request, which makes it difficult to suggest alternative approaches that would accomplish Thomas’s goals while still being protective of [personally identifying information] for members of the public,” Reilly wrote in a parting message to colleagues. “We have made clear to Thomas that this level of permission would allow access to PII. While we have suggested alternatives, such as read-only access, Thomas has continued to request full admin/root access.”
He sought access last week to more than 20 government systems, according to a screenshot obtained by The Washington Post.
Notify.gov, one such system, says that it aims to provide secure and personalized messaging to facilitate public outreach from government agencies and that all federal agencies and programs are eligible to use it.
Reilly had been in charge of that system until Tuesday. He said he objected to Shedd’s ability to view phone numbers “and variable data for members of the public,” Reilly wrote, information he “would be able to download and store … without anybody else receiving a notification.”
He could also grant the same access to others, Reilly wrote.
“We have not received a justification for this request, which makes it difficult to suggest alternative approaches that would accomplish Thomas’s goals while still being protective of [personally identifying information] for members of the public,” Reilly wrote in a parting message to colleagues. “We have made clear to Thomas that this level of permission would allow access to PII. While we have suggested alternatives, such as read-only access, Thomas has continued to request full admin/root access.”
