Is secret message on new White House website a recruitment test? Biden has allocated $200M to hire tech experts
Is there a secret message on the new WhiteHouse.gov website? Yes, there is. Multiple news outlets reported, in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony, that the recently updated website of Biden’s White House carried an invitation, hidden between lines of code.
On Wednesday, a Microsoft developer called Isaac Hepworth spotted the message embedded in the site’s back end. The message read: “If you’re reading this, we need your help building back better.”
But if the message seems cryptic, it becomes clearer when you see a link following it. The link leads to the website for the United States Digital Services. The USDS was established in 2014 under former President Obama’s administration, and as per its website, it is “a group of technologists from diverse backgrounds working across the federal government to transform critical services for the people. These specialists join for tours of civic service to create a steady influx of fresh perspectives. Our mission is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the greatest need.”
The USDS “deploys small, responsive groups of designers, engineers, product managers, and bureaucracy specialists to work with and empower civil servants. These multi-disciplinary teams bring best practices and new approaches to support government modernization efforts.”
As per reports, USDS staff typically work for the agency between six months and two years, with a maximum length of four years, and work within various federal agencies. The link led to the applications page for the website, inviting techies to join the government. The page read: “Millions of people use Federal Government services every day. Veterans apply for health care. Immigrants apply for naturalization. Too often, outdated tools and complex systems make these interactions cumbersome and frustrating. To improve these services, USDS hires top technologists into term-limited ‘tours of civic service.’ By working alongside civil servants, they help build better tools for the people.”
A statement published January 14 by the USDS said, “Since we were founded by the President in 2014, over 500 people have served, modernizing government, shifting culture, and showing what’s possible. Nearly 80 percent of our staff have joined during this administration [referring to Trump’s administration] to try and make a difference in people’s lives.”
As per a report in Inputmag.com, part of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package includes $200 million reserved for the Providing the Information Technology Oversight and Reform fund that “will allow for the rapid hiring of hundreds of experts to support the federal Chief Information Security Officer and U.S. Digital Service."
In December 2020, the USDS partnered with the United States Department of Health and Human Services and weekly published COVID-19 hospital data at the facility level, going back to August 1, 2020. “By opening COVID-19 datasets, our collective goal is to accelerate scientific and public health insights and shorten the time it takes for COVID-19 information and solutions to save lives,” the statement said.
Funnily enough, there's a secret message in the code of the USDS website as well. As per Inputmag.com, the USDS application page’s source code features an ASCII rendering of Mollie the Crab -- the agency’s unofficial mascot.