I am a former civil service employee. I experienced this event about 1993.
My personal experience is that when it is decided to get rid of people, the USA is extremely cruel to the most civil service workers.
You become a nameless, faceless, thing. They will get rid of you however they want. It is no use to disobey orders, it is better to work with them to save yourself. I see that today, many workers believe that protesting, crying their fate to anyone is not going to help them. In fact, this action will incentivize the Gov to get rid of you.
They want you to shut up and give up. You can do that. After I had to leave, I chose to fight. I had documents to prove my personal case. After five years, I won my case and was reinstated with full back pay.
Of course, there repercussions for me.
If you are targeted, think before you act.
