ST. LOUIS—The Elon Musk-led effort to reduce the size and scope of the federal government's employment rolls and office footprint has caused controversy around the country over the first month of President Donald Trump's second administration and may not be fully in sync in the St. Louis area. 

According to the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE website, a St. Louis field office for the Defense Counter-Intelligence and Security Agency closed its doors, saving roughly $89,000 on an annual lease. Except that it didn't close.

Spectrum News asked how many employees worked at the field office and if they had been reassigned elsewhere or dismissed.

"While DCSA can’t speak to information currently available on the DOGE site, we can tell you that we have not closed any field offices at this time," a spokesperson replied by email.  

According to the agency’s website, “We protect America's trusted workforce, trusted workspaces, and classified information. To do so, we have two fundamental missions: personnel security and industrial security. Supporting these two core missions are counterintelligence and insider threat and security training.”

The DOGE site also lists a General Services Administration lease on a building in O’Fallon, Ill., that it says will close in April at a savings of $99,000. 

Spectrum News asked how many employees worked at the office and if they would be reassigned or dismissed.

"GSA is reviewing all options to optimize our footprint and building utilization. GSA is actively working with our tenant agencies to assess their space needs and fully optimize the federal footprint, and we’ll share more information on specific savings and facilities as soon as we’re able," a spokesperson responded.

A message seeking comment from DOGE Friday was not immediately returned.

The conflicting guidance comes as court challenges over Trump's abiity to reshape the federal workforce continue to play out. 

On Thursday, A federal judge in Washington allowed mass firings of federal workers to move forward.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said he could not grant a motion from unions representing the workers to temporarily block the layoffs. He found that their complaint amounted to an employment dispute and must follow a different process outlined in federal employment law.

The ruling comes as thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door during in the first month of Trump’s second administration.

The administration argued in court the unions failed to show that they were facing the kind of irreparable, immediate harm that would justify an emergency order stopping layoffs.

The unions, representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers, maintain that Trump’s efforts to slash the federal workforce conflicts with Congress’ power to shape the size and direction of agencies through funding decisions, as well as laws detailing how such layoffs must be carried out.

“These policies, whether they ultimately go into effect or not...the fact that someone is waking up not knowing if they have a job is a problem and so we need to keep talking about it," Rep. Wesley Bell told a group of public and private sector union representatives Thursday at a meeting in St. Louis.

Roughly 13,000 federal employees are located in Bell’s district, including more than 3,000 who work at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s St. Louis headquarters. A new headquarters building is near completion in north St. Louis.

The agency’s employees have also received buyout offers. When asked last week how many provisional employees may have already been terminated or how many employees had accepted a buyout offer, a spokesperson said Monday said "potential impacts to the workforce are ongoing." The agency said the timelline for moving into the facility near Jefferson and Cass, starting this fall, has not changed.

Bell sounded off Thursday on frustration over the lack of firm information.

“It's not as if they are making this information accessible to even members of Congress, so we're finding out from constituents, we're find out from tweets or news reports,” he said. “We should know what Elon Musk is doing. We should know what his role is. We should know about these buyouts. We should know about these layoffs. If there's something legitimate, if there's something we have to have a conversation about, let's sit down and do it. Democrats are willing to do that.” 

Back in the Metro East, Rep. Nikki Budzinski was concerned about reports that plans lay off 84% of the staff in a federal office that administers disaster aid.

“This is disappointing news for St. Clair County, which is waiting on $89.5 million in disaster relief from this office,” she said in a social media post. “The people this office serves are in urgent need of help to rebuild their lives — gutting it only makes their struggle harder.”

Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt, a staunch Trump ally, defended the buyouts, noting they are commonplace in the private sector and in state government. He also downplayed concerns that the new NGA headquarters may not be fully-staffed.

“The president has every authority right now within the executive branch as it relates to personnel and how they’re spending these discretionary funds,” he told Spectrum News on Thursday.

“We think NGA West in St. Louis has great potential but you can always find efficiencies. This idea that we have to have the exact number of people working in the federal government, I don't buy that, I think you can find greater efficiencies. I actually think technology is going to help people be more productive so these are great opportunities.”