Federal offices closing across Oklahoma under Trump cost-cutting plan

Nearly a dozen locations of federal offices in Oklahoma have fallen under the sights of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

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According to the agency’s website, 8 federal agency offices in 9 cities across Oklahoma are closing to save on real estate costs.

It’s not clear if employees at those offices are being relocated or laid off.

1. 1. United States Fish and Wildlife Service in Broken Bow. DOGE estimates savings of $30,612.
2. 2. Bureau of Indian Affairs in Carnegie. DOGE estimates savings of $2,798.
3. 3. Social Security Administration in Lawton. DOGE estimates savings of $223,220.
4. 4. Office of Surface Mining and Regulation Enforcement in Tulsa. DOGE estimates savings of $745,987.
5. 5. Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pawnee. DOGE estimates savings of $156,171.
6. 6. Bureau of Indian Affairs in Seminole. DOGE estimates savings of $184,770.
7. 7. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Oklahoma City. DOGE estimates savings of $133,605.
8. 8. Indian Health Service in Oklahoma City. DOGE estimates savings of $119,951.
9. 9. Bureau of Indian Affairs in Watonga. DOGE estimates savings of $38,573.
10. 10. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Oklahoma City. DOGE estimates savings of $20,113.
11. 11. U.S. Attorney's Office in Muskogee. DOGE estimates savings of $1,272,005.

Five of the affected offices relate to Native American services. In the case of a BIA office in Carnegie, a spokesperson for the Kiowa Tribe, which has its headquarters near the BIA office, said that location had already been empty for multiple years. Therefore, terminating the real estate contract was only a formality for that location.

But in Seminole, reportedly 7 employees are out of work after the office shuttered earlier this month. Phones lines to the office have been disconnected.

"The local BIA agency is called the Wewoka Agency, although it has been located in the town of Seminole for several years," said Chief Lewis Johnson of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. "The Wewoka Agency truly supports the local service area of the Seminole Reservation in many diverse ways and the BIA fire fighting team comprised of many tribes but predominately of Seminole members have come to the aide for decades of major fires throughout the United States when called on to do so."

Staff at the Indian Health Service office in Oklahoma City picked up the phone when called on Thursday, and seemingly weren't aware of DOGE plans to terminate the lease for the office space. A request for information to IHS public affairs has not been returned.

But, the services falling under the target of DOGE concerns Hozshona Post, the president of the OU American Indian Student Association.

"It's important to acknowledge that these are not just numbers," Post said, who is a member of the Kiowa Tribe and a junior at OU studying psychology. "These are people with lives, and their own perspectives and they are being impacted."

Representatives at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Oklahoma City also picked up the phone on Thursday, but did not comment on any future office plans. The public affairs office directed News 9 to the General Services Administration for further information about office leases.

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