Consider This from NPR : NPR

President Donald Trump cranes his head to listen during a cabinet meeting at the White House in February. Also pictured, L-R, are Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump cranes his head to listen during a cabinet meeting at the White House in February. Also pictured, L-R, are Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Whether a "chainsaw," per Elon Musk, or "scalpel," as President Trump has said — the Trump administration is making deep cuts to the federal government within its first 100 days.

And Trump has appointed personal allies with little experience in government to key cabinet positions.

For the civil servants working to enact the missions of these government agencies, that's often meant chaos and dysfunction.

NPR correspondents Tom Bowman, Michele Kelemen and Selena Simmons-Duffin recap what they are hearing from federal workers at the Departments of Defense, State, and Health and Human Services.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at [email protected].

This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Janse and Connor Donevan, with reporting from Yuki Noguchi. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.