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One of the next moves in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk鈥檚聽sweeping effort聽to fire government employees and curtail operations is using the agency that manages thousands of federal employee worksites around the country to cut down on office space.

Last week, regional managers for the , or GSA, received a message from the agency鈥檚 Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases for all federal offices nationwide (a total of roughly 7,500), according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee.

The order seems to contradict聽Trump鈥檚 own return-to-office mandate聽for federal employees, adding confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to find workspace, internet connections and office building security credentials for employees who had been working remotely for years.

But it may reflect the Trump administration鈥檚 belief that it won鈥檛 need as many offices due to its efforts to fire employees or聽encourage them to resign.

Here鈥檚 what to know about the GSA and how Trump鈥檚 Republican administration is using it in its pursuit of changes with other federal agencies:

What is the General Services Administration?

The GSA, an independent agency, essentially acts like the federal government鈥檚 real estate broker, managing federal property for various agencies. President Harry S. Truman established the GSA in 1949, streamlining administrative duties of procuring workplaces for federal employees that had to that point been handled by a variety of entities.

Initially, in the wake of World War II, the GSA was tasked with disposing of war surplus goods and stockpiling strategic supplies for use in wartime. These days, it handles the acquisition of workplaces for more than 1 million federal civilian workers, oversees preservation of hundreds of historic buildings and manages government purchases from commercial vendors.

As of this past fall, the GSA owned and leased more than 363 million square feet of space in 8,397 buildings in more than 2,200 communities nationwide, according to the agency鈥檚 website. Those properties include courthouses, post offices and data processing centers.

What does Trump want the GSA to do?

Musk and his聽Department of Government Efficiency聽have homed in on the GSA.

An email sent last week from GSA headquarters in Washington instructed regional managers to begin terminating leases for roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide.

鈥淟ease terminations are the clear priority at this time,鈥� according to a Jan. 29 email from a senior GSA manager, a copy of which was provided to the AP by a GSA employee.

In a follow-up meeting, GSA regional managers were told the goal is to terminate as many as 300 leases per day, according to the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Who is leading Trump鈥檚 moves concerning the GSA?

According to the employee who spoke to the AP, the initiative is being led by Nicole Hollander, who has been embedded in the GSA鈥檚 headquarters in recent days.

On her LinkedIn profile, Hollander describes herself as an X employee with a background in real estate, in the Washington area. Hollander鈥檚 X account 鈥� which shows that she joined in March 2015 but where posts date only to September 2023 鈥� is full of posts related to X鈥檚 real estate acquisitions, as well as information about auctions of items from Twitter鈥檚 former offices after Musk purchased the platform.

Trump has ordered the GSA to make sure it promotes 鈥渂eautiful federal civic architecture鈥� as the president dislikes styles that are less traditional.

Has Trump had a dustup with the GSA before?

Yes. During the transition period following his November win, Trump declined to sign an agreement with the GSA that would have given his team access to secure government offices and email accounts. That refusal came in part because it would have required that the then-president-elect limit contributions to $5,000 and reveal who was donating to his transition effort.

In late November, nearly two months past the deadline, Trump did reach an agreement with President Joe Biden鈥檚 White House to allow transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office on Jan. 20.

Editor鈥檚 note: Kinnard reported from Houston, and Goodman reported from Miami.