Dozens of former federal agents fled Twitter around the time Elon Musk took over as CEO, a Daily Caller analysis found.
Musk initiated his acquisition of Twitter in April of 2022 and officially took over October 27, 2022. In that time and in the months afterwards, 28 former FBI, DOJ, CIA and DHS executives employed by Twitter left the company, a Daily Caller LinkedIn search revealed.
The company experienced a general staff exodus after Musk’s April announcement, with the employee attrition rate spiking, Reuters reported. Musk then laid off half of Twitter’s full-time employees in November, after giving staff an ultimatum of leaving or committing to being “extremely hardcore,” NPR reported.
One former FBI agent, Jim Baker, was famously “exited” from Twitter after his role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story was spotlighted by the Twitter Files, Musk announced on the platform in December.
The other 27 federal employees who left Twitter around Musk’s acquisition, according to the Caller’s LinkedIn search, included the social media company’s “embedded security manager,” “director of strategy and initiatives,” “senior analyst of global risk intelligence,” “senior corporate security analyst,” “senior director for the trust and safety organization,” “deputy general counsel and vice president,” “senior staff technical program manager,” “head of corporate security,” and more.
Twitter user “Name Redacted” first brought attention to the number of former FBI agents employed at Twitter in December, calling for Musk to do a “little housecleaning” of his staff.
1. @elonmusk , Your new company @Twitter has many ex FBI/CIA agents in high ranks. Should probably do a little housecleaning.
Thread 🧵
— Name Redacted (@NameRedacted247) December 7, 2022
One of the former FBI agents’ LinkedIn profiles listed by Name Redacted was then deleted, suggesting the former federal employees could have scrubbed their information, and that some who are currently employed at Twitter don’t post their information on the site.
Twitter currently employs nine former FBI employees in some of the highest executive roles, like “corporate security manager,” “director of information security,” and “senior director of trust and safety,” the Daily Caller’s search found. (RELATED: Hundreds Of Former Feds Have Flocked To Jobs In Big Tech)
All nine former FBI agents currently employed at Twitter worked over 15 years in the bureau before switching to the social media site.
Twitter responded to an inquiry from the Daily Caller with a poop emoji, an automatic response method the company adopted since Musk’s takeover.
Matthew Buckley and Ryan Lippe contributed to this report.