In what sounds like a plot from a Cold War satire, President Trump’s federal workforce reduction plan is being stymied by an elevator in a Pennsylvania mountain. Here’s what you need to know about this almost unbelievable bureaucratic bottleneck:

The time warp

Deep inside a limestone mine outside Pittsburgh lies a scene from another era:

The numbers game

The Office of Personnel Management is facing a paper avalanche:

The modern problem

Trump’s efficiency adviser Elon Musk discovered the archaic system is hampering major reforms:

The digital divide

The government’s time capsule shows no signs of modernizing:

The mountain of irony

As one expert noted, presidents rarely discuss records management. Yet now, a 70-year-old filing system inside a mountain is effectively dictating the pace of 21st-century government reform.

Read more:

• Trump federal buyout plan slowed by Cold War-era filing system in mountain mine

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