Mice, a Caved-In Ceiling, and Cloudy Water: The GSA’s New Office Is Falling Apart

老鼠、坍塌的天花板与浑浊的饮用水：美国总务署（GSA）的新办公室正在分崩离析

About 1,600 federal employees who work at the General Services Administration have been forced to relocate from their office on F Street in Washington, DC, to the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, roughly two blocks away. Workers say the new building, which also houses staff from the Office of Personnel Management has mice, a caved-in bathroom ceiling, and drinking water that needs to be run for five to 10 seconds before it is clear.

约 1,600 名在美国总务署（GSA）工作的联邦雇员被迫从位于华盛顿特区 F 街的办公室搬迁至约两个街区外的西奥多·罗斯福联邦大楼。员工们表示，这栋同样容纳了人事管理局（OPM）工作人员的新大楼里不仅有老鼠，洗手间的天花板还发生了坍塌，且饮用水必须先放水 5 到 10 秒才能变清澈。

The federal workforce has been rocked by changes made by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) since January 2025. DOGE effectively fired tens of thousands of workers and forced those who remained to commit to in-person schedules and, in some cases, zero-based budgeting. GSA, the agency in charge of the federal government’s IT services and real estate assets, was hit early by DOGE, and in addition to major workforce cuts also rolled out plans to sell hundreds of federal office buildings. A year after the cuts, GSA announced it planned to hire about 400 workers.

自 2025 年 1 月以来，埃隆·马斯克领导的所谓“政府效率部”（DOGE）所推行的变革令联邦政府工作人员感到震惊。DOGE 实际上解雇了数万名员工，并强迫留任者必须遵守线下办公时间表，在某些情况下还实施了零基预算。作为负责联邦政府 IT 服务和房地产资产的机构，GSA 很早就受到了 DOGE 的冲击，除了大规模裁员外，还推出了出售数百栋联邦办公大楼的计划。在裁员一年后，GSA 宣布计划招聘约 400 名员工。

“We’ve all been through a lot, but this really made me finally understand that they don’t care about us,” says one GSA employee who asked to remain anonymous, as they aren’t authorized to speak to the press. “We’re left wondering what else is going to collapse or break—do we need to look at the ceiling before going to the bathroom? Can we actually trust the water is safe to drink?”

“我们都经历了很多，但这真的让我彻底明白，他们根本不在乎我们，”一位要求匿名的 GSA 员工表示，因为他们未获授权接受媒体采访。“我们不禁怀疑还有什么会坍塌或损坏——去洗手间前我们需要先检查天花板吗？我们真的能相信水是可以安全饮用的吗？”

Photos obtained by WIRED show a toilet in a men’s room on the third floor covered in debris from the ceiling, a gaping hole in said ceiling, and a dead mouse caught in a trap. Workers said the mouse wasn’t “entirely shocking” since many federal buildings allegedly have vermin, but the ceiling pushed them over the edge. An additional sign in the office recommends workers filling up water bottles to “run the water without your bottle for 5-10 seconds and wait for the water to run clear.”

《连线》（WIRED）获得的图片显示，三楼男洗手间的一个马桶上覆盖着从天花板掉落的碎片，天花板上有一个巨大的洞，捕鼠器里还有一只死老鼠。员工们表示，老鼠的存在“并不完全令人震惊”，因为据称许多联邦大楼都有害虫，但天花板坍塌事件让他们忍无可忍。办公室里还贴着一张告示，建议员工在接水时“先放水 5-10 秒，等水变清澈后再用瓶子接水”。

GSA and OPM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GSA 和 OPM 没有立即回应置评请求。

GSA leadership, including administrator Ed Forst, has told employees they should expect to work in the OPM building—which is slated for “accelerated disposition,” or a quick building sale—until December 2028. Their prior building, located at 1800 F Street, is undergoing extensive renovations. The initiative is part of a “government-wide effort to reduce underutilized space and fortify the federal real estate footprint,” according to a GSA press release.

包括署长埃德·福斯特（Ed Forst）在内的 GSA 领导层已告知员工，他们预计将在 OPM 大楼工作至 2028 年 12 月，而该大楼已被列入“加速处置”计划，即快速出售。他们之前位于 F 街 1800 号的办公楼目前正在进行大规模翻修。根据 GSA 的新闻稿，这一举措是“全政府范围内减少闲置空间并巩固联邦房地产布局”努力的一部分。

While Musk himself has stepped back from his public role in the Trump administration, DOGE affiliates have continued working in government, embracing austerity measures and AI initiatives. Others have gone back to the private sector, working in AI, data centers, and manufacturing.

尽管马斯克本人已从特朗普政府的公开角色中退居幕后，但 DOGE 的相关人员仍在政府部门工作，推行紧缩措施和人工智能计划。其他人则回到了私营部门，从事人工智能、数据中心和制造业的工作。