Department of Government Efficiency
United States government organization From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)[b] is an initiative by the second Trump administration tasked with cutting federal spending. It emerged from discussions between Donald Trump and Elon Musk,[8] and was established by an executive order on January 20, 2025. DOGE members have filled influential roles at federal agencies[9] that granted them enough control of information systems to terminate contracts for scientific research, climate change initiatives, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.[10] DOGE has facilitated mass layoffs, the attempted dismantlement of multiple federal agencies, and immigration crackdowns.[11][12][13]
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 | This article may require copy editing for non-encyclopedic voice "CBS News reports ...". (April 2025) |
Logo as of January 2025 | |
| Predecessor | United States Digital Service |
|---|---|
| Formation | January 20, 2025 |
| Type | Cross-departmental temporary organization |
| Headquarters | Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Administrator | Amy Gleason (acting)[1] |
Key people | Elon Musk (Senior Advisor to the President)[a]
Steve Davis[5] |
Parent organization | Executive Office of the President |
| Budget | c. $40 million[6] |
| Website | doge |
Musk's role within DOGE is unclear. The White House has asserted that he is a senior advisor to the president,[14][15] denied that he is making government decisions,[16][17] and named Amy Gleason as acting administrator.[1] Trump insists that Musk is the head of DOGE.[18] DOGE's status is also unclear. Formerly known as the U.S. Digital Service, "USDS" now abbreviates U.S. DOGE Service and comprises the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization (USDSTO), scheduled to end on July 4, 2026.[19] A judge declared that Musk must be its de facto leader,[2] and that Musk, DOGE, and USDS "likely" violated the Appointments Clause.[20]
DOGE has met opposition and lawsuits.[21] Some critics have warned of a constitutional crisis,[22][23] others have likened DOGE's actions to a "coup".[24] Musk did not divest from companies[25] with government contracts[26] that clash with federal regulators[27] DOGE is trying to slash.[28] Musk has said that DOGE is transparent,[29] while Trump has tried to exempt DOGE from disclosure.[30] The White House has claimed lawfulness,[31] and that Musk would "excuse himself" if his interests conflicted.[32] Trump has maintained his support for Musk and DOGE.[33]
From $2 trillion, Musk has lowered his cut target to $1 trillion, and to $150 billion.[34] As of April 23, 2025, DOGE has claimed to have saved $160 billion.[35] An independent analysis estimated these savings costed taxpayers $135 billion;[36] other ones previously found billions of dollars in misaccounting.[37][38] Musk, DOGE, and the Trump administration have made multiple claims of having discovered significant fraud; none held up under scrutiny.[39][40] According to watchdogs, DOGE is redefining fraud to target federal employees and programs to build political support;[41] budget experts said DOGE cuts were driven more by political ideology than frugality.[42]
Background
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Perspective
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After having financially backed Trump and other Republicans since 2023,[43][44] Musk became the largest individual donor of the 2024 election cycle[45] having spent more than US$290 million in campaign contributions.[46] In September, he described deregulation as the only path to his Mars colonization program.[47] In October, he appeared on Trump's stage with an "Occupy Mars" t-shirt.[48] In November, he admitted to Tucker Carlson: "If Trump loses, I'm fucked".[49]
On September 5, 2024, Trump promised to the Economic Club of New York: "at the suggestion of Elon Musk [...] I will create a Government Efficiency Commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms."[50][51] Javier Milei revealed that, prior to the public declaration, Musk had called Federico Sturzenegger to discuss emulating his ministry's deregulation model in the United States.[52]
The New York Times compared the project to Theodore Roosevelt's Keep Commission, Ronald Reagan's Grace Commission, and vice president Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government.[53]
Emergence
The project emerged from a discussion in the summer of 2024 between Musk and Trump, where Musk floated the idea of a "government efficiency commission".[8][54][55] In an August 18 interview to Reuters after a campaign event, Trump said that, if elected, he would be open to giving Musk an advisory role.[56] The next day, an X user suggested "Department of Government Efficiency"; Musk replied "That is the perfect name",[57] and posted "I am willing to serve" with an AI-created image of him in front of a lectern marked "D.O.G.E."[58] The DOGE acronym refers to an internet meme of a Shiba Inu dog[59] and to Dogecoin, a meme coin that Musk promotes, making "Department of Government Efficiency" a backronym.[60][61]
On October 27, at a Trump campaign rally in Madison Square Garden, Musk said he thought DOGE could reduce federal spending by "at least" $2 trillion,[62][63] a figure higher than the 2023 discretionary spending budget.[64][65] On November 1, Musk mentioned that Ron Paul could work with DOGE; Paul vowed to join; they agreed on cutting military spending; this led nowhere.[66]
Days after the election, a small group, including Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Howard Lutnick, and Brad Smith, started meeting at Mar-a-Lago.[57] On November 12, Trump announced that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead DOGE and analogized it to the Manhattan Project.[67][68] During an interview with Tucker Carlson on the same day, Musk proposed consolidating the 400 federal agencies: "99 [...] is more than enough".[69][70] On November 17, Ramaswamy stated that DOGE may eliminate entire agencies and reduce the federal workforce by 75%.[71] Musk and Ramaswamy co-authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal three days later arguing for the need to reduce the size of government.[72]
On January 2, 2025, Musk posited that DOGE had a good shot at cutting $1 trillion, but that $2 trillion was the best-case scenario.[73] At the first cabinet meeting of the second Trump administration in February, Musk remained optimistic that $1 trillion–15% of the budget–could be cut.[74][75] In April 2025, Musk stated that at that time $150 billion had been cut.[34]
Self-deletion date
On December 2, 2024, Ramaswamy posted that "Most government projects should come with a clear expiry date";[76] Musk replied that the final step of DOGE was "to delete itself".[77] Trump stated that the entity's work will "conclude" no later than July 4, 2026.[78] This termination will coincide with a "Great American Fair" that Trump has proposed on the 250th anniversary of the United States.[19] Trump called the promised results "the perfect gift to America".[79]
Trump's January 20 order on DOGE (E.O. 14158) created and divided DOGE into a permanent part and a temporary part.[80] What exactly the temporary part consists of has yet to be determined. Trump's February 26 DOGE executive order (E.O. 14222) does not stipulate any termination date.[81]
Ramaswamy steps away
After the second presidential inauguration of Trump on January 20, the White House has confirmed that Ramaswamy would not join DOGE.[82] The announcement came after reports resurfaced about internal friction between Ramaswamy and Musk, with Musk's supporters "privately undercutting" Ramaswamy for his perceived lack of engagement.[83] A Republican strategist has confided that Ramaswamy was wanted out of D.C. after his post on how Americans "venerated mediocrity over excellence".[84] On January 27, Ramaswamy denied being ousted and announced his resignation, contrasting his focus on "constitutional law, legislative-based approach" and Musk's "technology approach, which is the future approach".[85]
Early claims of fraud
In his November 12, 2024, announcement, Trump stated that DOGE will work with the Office of Management and Budget to address what he called "massive waste and fraud" in government spending.[67] Less than a week into his presidency, Trump fired 17 inspectors general, whose job is to audit federal agencies.[40][86]
In their February 11, 2025, joint Oval Office appearances Trump and Musk used the word fraud or fraudster about a dozen times.[87] Trump said DOGE discovered "billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse"[88] while Musk suggested that 20 million people received Social Security past age 100, which he later called "the biggest fraud in history".[89] That claim has since been refuted; it rests on a misunderstanding of the database.[90] Karoline Leavitt asserted the day after that the DOGE Subcommittee discovered $2.7 trillion in improper Medicaid and Medicare payments to people overseas. Musk shared the claim on his social. Since then the claim has been refuted.[91] Two judges had rebuked the Trump administration a few days later for alleging fraud without evidence.[92][93]
In his Joint Address to Congress on March 4, 2025, Trump repeated Musk's claim about people of implausible ages receiving social security benefits.[94] In a March 27 interview on Fox News with Brett Baier,[95] Musk suggested that those who criticize DOGE are fraudsters.[96]
Legal status
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Perspective
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump established by executive order the "Department of Government Efficiency".[97] In it he renamed the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) the U.S. DOGE Service,[98] and created a temporary entity within USDS that retrofits the project laid out by Trump and Musk during the electoral campaign.[99] The executive order introduced the concept of a "DOGE team", and called for the implementation of an unspecified DOGE agenda.[c] Other executive orders also referred to DOGE, mostly to ask agencies to cooperate with it.
Judges and journalists have struggled to define DOGE; members of the Trump administration have given conflicting accounts of its authority, membership, and leadership.[100] The legality of repurposing USDS to accommodate DOGE has been challenged in court.[101] Trump has tried to exempt DOGE from disclosing its internal documentation. In court, DOGE has argued that it is not a government agency; a federal judge found that DOGE is indeed one.[102] DOGE lawyers sought to shield its members by restricting the meaning of "DOGE employee" to having a formal tie with USDS.
Executive orders
Trump has issued several executive orders involving DOGE:
- On January 20, executive order 14158, "Establishing and Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency'", established various DOGE entities.[80]
- On January 20, executive order 14170, "Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service", asks his assistant for domestic policy to produce a hiring plan in consultation with the OMB director, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director, and the DOGE administrator.[103]
- On February 11, executive order 14210, "Implementing The President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Workforce Optimization Initiative", ordered significant reductions in workforce.[104]
- On February 19, executive order 14218, "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders", ordered the OMB and the USDS directors to identify funding sources and to enhance eligibility verification systems for undocumented immigrants.[105]
- On February 19, executive order 14219, "Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Regulatory Initiative", ordered the review of a wide-ranging set of laws with an eye toward rescinding many of them.[106]
- On February 26, executive order 14222, "Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Cost Efficiency Initiative", issued directives to transform the registration of contracts, grants, and loans.[81]
- On April 9, executive order 14270, "Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash American Energy", directs environment and energy agencies to coordinate with DOGE team leads and the OMB director to incorporate a sunset provision into their regulations.[107]
DOGE Structure
In the section DOGE Structure of the executive order 14158, the reorganization follows three steps: (a) renaming of the United States Digital Service; (b) establishment of a temporary organization; (c) creation of DOGE Teams.
U.S. DOGE Service
The existing United States Digital Service (USDS) was renamed to "United States DOGE Service" and established within the Executive Office of the President (EOP).[80] The executive order also proclaimed that the new USDS would have "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems and IT systems" to the "maximum extent consistent with law" (E.O. 14158 Sect. 4b).[80]
U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization
The U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization (USDSTO) was established within the USDS, intended to advance the president's 18-month DOGE agenda (E.O. 14158 Sect. 3b). The temporary organization will terminate on July 4, 2026 (E.O. 14158 Sect. 3b).[80]
DOGE Teams
"DOGE Teams" will be embedded within all federal agencies, consisting of at least four employees, some of whom may be special government employees, typically including a team lead, one engineer, one human resources specialist, and one attorney. The members of each team will be determined by the agency head in consultation with the USDS administrator (E.O. 14158 Sect. 3c).[80]
New career appointments at each federal agency are to be made in consultation with the agency's DOGE team lead, who also plays a role in determining whether career appointment vacancies will be filled. The team lead provides the USDS administrator with a monthly hiring report (E.O. 14210, 3b).[104]
Executive order 14222 Sect. 3a tasks DOGE teams with assisting agencies in the elaboration of "a centralized technological system" to record every payment issued by the agency, along with justification by the employee who approved it; this system shall also give agency heads a kill switch to override decisions.[81]
USDS administrator
There is a USDS administrator who reports to the White House chief of staff.[108] This administrator also heads the USDSTO (E.O. 14158 Sect. 3b). The administrator's work includes heading a government-wide software modernization initiative. Among the foci are working with agency heads both to promote the interoperability of agency systems, and to enable USDS access to unclassified agency records and systems (E.O. 14158 Sect. 4a, b).[80] The administrator is among those tasked with developing a federal hiring plan for agency heads, and will provide advice on its implementation (E.O. 14170 Sect. 2a, d).[103] Within 240 days of February 11, 2025, the administrator is to provide the president with a report about the implementation of his workforce optimization initiative, including "a recommendation as to whether any of its provisions should be extended, modified, or terminated" (E.O. 14210, Sect. 3f).[104]
Legal challenges
DOGE is the subject of intense litigation. There are multiple lawsuits concerning its downsizing of USAID,[109][110] privacy and security concerns related to its accessing of computer systems and records across the government, its refusal to make its own records public, and Musk's authority.
Disclosure exemption
On November 2, 2024, Musk reiterated on social media a statement he repeatedly made while campaigning with Trump: "There should be no need for FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requests. All government data should be default public for maximum transparency."[111] By repurposing DOGE as a temporary organization, Trump has apparently sidestepped FOIA transparency laws that apply to congressionally funded agencies such as its predecessor, the USDS, when the USDS was under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).[112] Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields asserted that DOGE "falls under the Presidential Records Act",[30] which would exempt USDS from disclosing its documents, communications and records to the public and in most judicial actions until at least 2034.[112]
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) contested this move and filed a complaint against USDS on February 20, 2025.[113] CREW argues that "The American people have a right to know how USDS is managing their tax dollars and their data, how it is exercising its authority to influence government operations and the extent to which it is operating outside of its slim legal mandate."[114] On March 10, Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled that the unprecedented authority, the unusual secrecy, and the rapid pace of DOGE justified the release of its internal documents.[115] On March 17, 2025, two representatives from the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees filed a FOIA request questioning whether DOGE is operating outside the bounds of federal law and stated "the Administration and Mr. Musk have hidden behind a veil of secrecy as they systematically dismantle the federal government of the United States".[116] On April 8, Reuters reported that DOGE uses Signal to communicate, which it described as potentially violating record-keeping rules for allowing messages to disappear after a set period of time. It also reported that they "heavily" used Musk's Grok AI chatbot as part of their work.[117]
Ambiguity pleadings
John Yoo has suggested that presenting Musk as a presidential advisor may provide him "legal insulation" over DOGE actions.[118] Josh Blackman concurred: "So long as an actual government official is pushing the 'cancel' button, I don't know that Musk is holding any actual substantial authority."[119] Judge Theodore D. Chuang still declared that Musk has "played a leading role" in actions taken by DOGE at USAID, by tweeting on February 2 and 3 about events for which there is a trace in the proper chain of command days later.[120]
The concept of DOGE membership has been contested. In a group chat, acting USDS administrator Amy Gleason argued that she has no control over DOGE team members hired by other agencies, nor any responsibility regarding their actions, including firings.[121] General Services Administration(GSA) administrator and DOGE acolyte Stephen Ehikian stated "there is no DOGE team at GSA"[122] even though Steve Davis has taken up offices at GSA; the equivocation rests on the concept of "DOGE team", which is not implied by what is usually accepted as the concept of DOGE membership.[123] In a legal case involving the Department of Labor, DOGE lawyers objected to the plaintiffs' meanings of "DOGE employee", "sensitive systems", "access", "records", and "authority", which they deemed "vague and ambiguous"; they restricted the concept of DOGE employee to "individuals who have a formal relationship" with USDS.[124][125]
In a court case involving the "Fork in the road" mass email, government lawyers presented Jacob Altik as coming from OPM whence he's a DOGE member; Altik presented himself as a lawyer from the White House Personal Office when trying to shut down USADF along with other DOGE members.[126]
Purpose
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DOGE has outlined a plan to purge federal agencies of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), aligning with Trump's order to put DEI workers on leave and terminate DEI offices.[127][128] The plan calls for large-scale firing, including removal of any employee deemed DEI-adjacent.[129] While executing its plan, DOGE has gained pervasive access to government data.[130] Its takeover of federal infrastructure is such that it holds information about American citizens, public properties, scientific datasets, official websites, financial records, classified material, and federal contracts; it gained the capacity to terminate programs, destroy data, and contact every federal employee, including judges.[131] It has used AI in at least one federal agency to monitor employee communications for anti-Trump and anti-Musk sentiment.[117] DOGE has broadcast its actions through their website and their accounts on Musk's social; this online presence is complemented by Musk's media appearances, especially on Fox News where he presents talking points about their next targets.[132] DOGE's plan maps onto Project 2025 goals.[133]
Controlling US government digital systems
After recalling Musk's story whose punchline is that he could trim the government just by gaining its servers passwords, the New York Times investigative team said: "What started as musings at a dinner party evolved into a radical takeover of the federal bureaucracy."[134] Before Trump's first day in office, Musk acolyte Amanda Scales was already chief of staff at Office of Personnel Management (OPM).[135] OPM manages more than $1 trillion in assets, retirement funds, health and life insurance benefits for federal employees and their spouses;[136] it also provides custody to service records of 2.1 million workers and citizens who have applied for federal jobs, and maintains an email list of nearly every federal employee.[137] Since around the time Trump was sworn in, Musk lieutenant Steve Davis and his family have been sleeping at the GSA headquarters.[138][139] The agency holds data about federal real estate, procurement, and information infrastructure; according to a former director, it holds "incredible amounts of sensitive or proprietary business information that [businesses] had to share with the government in order to get a contract or take some action".[131] It manages the SmartPay system, the largest government charge card and commercial payment program in the world.[140] It also oversees the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), which details every contract action over $3,000; DOGE has had the power to modify its records before February 14, the day they promised "receipts".[141]
On January 21, David Lebryk denied DOGE access to USDT systems. Newly confirmed Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, overruled that decision later that day, and Lebryk resigned.[9][142] He was replaced by Tom Krause, a DOGE member[143] who kept his role of CEO at the Cloud Software Group.[144] On February 13, DOGE entered the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),[145] and two days later DOGE was seeking access to the Integrated Data Retrieval System.[146] USDT (through IRS) has names, addresses, social security numbers from tax payers, their income and net worth, bank information for direct deposits, itemization detail such as charitable donations, bankruptcy history or identity theft.[12] On February 18, Michelle King either stepped down from her role at the SSA[147] or was fired,[148] to be replaced by Leland Dudek,[149] a move Musk celebrated on his social; after a belligerent LinkedIn post in which he has bragged about having "bullied agency executives" to facilitate DOGE's work, Dudek has been signing off DOGE's decisions.[150] Chief of staff Tiffany Flick has also retired, after having "witnessed a disregard for critical processes", and accusing DOGE member Michael Russo of supporting Musk's incorrect claims about dead people receiving benefits.[151][152] Its systems contain: records of lifetime wages and earnings; social security and bank account numbers, the type and amount of benefits individuals received; citizenship status; disability and medical information.[12][153]
On February 4, acting OPM director Charles Ezell (who will be replaced by Scott Kupor, tied to Musk ally Marc Andreessen)[154] sent a memo to agencies recommending that the role of chief information officer (CIO) be redesignated as "general" rather than "career reserved", which allows political appointees and DOGE members to control any decision related to information policy.[136][155] The following CIOs are either connected to Musk or Peter Thiel: the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has Gregory Barbaccia, from Palantir; OPM has Greg Hogan, from SpaceX; DOE has Ryan Riedel, from SpaceX;[156] the Social Security Administration (SSA) has Michael Russo, a DOGE member with Musk ties.[157] Before that memo, Thomas Shedd, from Tesla, became the head of GSA's Technology Transformation Services [158] after Steven Reilly resigned over Shedd's requests for administrative access to more than 20 government systems.[159] Three weeks into the second Trump presidency, TechCrunch observed that DOGE had "gained unprecedented access to a swath of U.S. government departments—including agencies responsible for managing data on millions of federal employees and a system that handles $6 trillion in payments to Americans.[160]
Purging diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
In December 2024, Musk tweeted: "DEI must DIE".[161] An internal DOGE report obtained by the Washington Post on February 15, 2025, outlined a three phase process by which it would lead a DEI purge within the federal government:[162]
- In phase one, on his first day, Trump would rescind all DEI-related executive orders and initiatives, dissolve offices at federal organizations with a DEI role and terminate their employees, ask federal websites to remove all DEI material, and terminate all DEI contracts.
- In phase two, from January 21 to February 19, the government would purge employees without any DEI role but who had been "corrupted" by it. For instance, DOGE has been searching NOAA databases to find employees associated with DEI initiatives.[163]
- In phase three, from February 20 to July 19, DOGE would commit mass-scale firings of any employee in any part of the government who did not take part in any DEI initiative, but was nonetheless determined through unknown criteria to be "DEI-related".
Records show that those who were workshopping the plan include: Stephanie Holmes, former Jones Day lawyer specialized in anti-DEI corporate work; Anthony Armstrong, who helped Musk acquire Twitter; Brian Bjelde, longtime SpaceX employee; Noah Peters, involved in Project 2025; and Adam Ramada, a venture capitalist turned DOGE Team lead.[164]
Broadcasting the Trump agenda
At an Oval Office press conference on February 11, 2025, Musk pledged to make DOGE's actions "maximally transparent" and to publish them on a government website.[165] Doge.gov went live the next day: the main page showed DOGE's tweets, a "follow on X" ad,[166] and a few tabs;[141] waste.gov was made private after DOGE got caught using a blog theme with the word "diverse", a Trump policy violation.[167][168] Days later, hackers posted mocking messages on Doge.gov.[169][170] Soon after, HuffPost reported that doge.gov was posting headcount and total wages of National Reconnaissance Office staff;[171] a spokesperson clarified a week later that, while not being classified, the information was not intended for public release.[172][173] At the end of February, doge.gov did not "provide names and contact information for the officials and employees associated with its work, an organizational chart or a calendar of past and upcoming activity", according to The Daily News.[174]
DOGE promised "receipts" by Valentine's Day; they appeared on February 17, as search results from the FPDS showing contract terminations. How DOGE calculates savings is unclear.[175] Analyses found significant discrepancies in its accounting: roughly one third of canceled contracts did not yield any actual savings or were already obligated;[38][176] in one case it miscounted the value of a $8 million contract it had canceled as $8 billion;[177] $46.5 billion of its purported $55 billion savings were not linked to any specific items.[38][37] After two weeks, hundreds of claimed savings have been scrubbed from its "wall", including large items; Martha Gimbel, director of The Budget Lab at Yale, doubted the wall's reliability.[178] On March 13, journalists discovered that DOGE removed federal identification numbers from the publicly available source code, making their receipts hard to verify; a White House official invoked security to justify DOGE's opacity.[179] On March 26, DOGE has removed USAID contract details due to "legal reason"; about 45% of the items disappeared from their website, according to CBS News.[180] Watchdogs said DOGE is redefining fraud to target federal employees and programs to build political support for their cuts;[181] former Republican budget experts said the cuts were driven by political ideology more than frugality.[42] Professional auditors have been asked by Wired to evaluate DOGE's audit, and one of them said: "It's a heist, stealing a vast amount of government data."[182]
DOGE has extended its public relations beyond contract updates. After its first official action, DOGE's X account showed proof that it took down the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council website, and added: "Progress"; Musk quoted the tweet and said: "It begins".[183] It has been boosting anti-DEI policies,[184] and at times acted as message carrier.[185] DOGE acolyte Antonio Gracias appeared on Fox and Friends, on David Sacks' podcast, and at a town hall rally held by Musk in Wisconsin[186] to claim that undocumented immigrants were abusing Social Security (even though analysts estimate that they contribute $20 billion more annually to it than they receive), and that they were committing voter fraud, in contradiction to state-level audits and voter data.[187][188] The DOGE account has retweeted and commented on similar accusations.[189][190] DOGE leaders Steve Davis, Joe Gebbia, Aram Moghaddassi, Brad Smith, Anthony Armstrong, Tom Krause, and Tyler Hassen appeared on Fox News alongside Musk to defend DOGE's mission.[191]
Emulation of Project 2025
In the op-ed presenting the DOGE plan, Musk and Ramaswamy promised to work "closely" with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and described the decisions of "unelected bureaucrats" as "antidemocratic".[72] On his first day in office, Trump restored Schedule F to speed up firing;[192] earlier he nominated its champion, Russell Vought, to lead OMB.[193] Vought founded the Center for Renewing America (CRA), where he drafted executive orders, regulations, and memos consistent with the ideas presented by Project 2025.[194] Vought was on Project 2025 advisory board, and developed its 180-day playbook,[195] a set of actions to take in the Trump administration's first six months, which the project described as "a comprehensive concrete transition plan for each agency."[196] In multiple speeches, Vought swore to put career civil servants "in trauma".[197]
Vice President JD Vance observed that DOGE matters less for saving money than for "making the bureaucracy responsive to the elected president".[198] Vance shares a longstanding collaboration with Kevin Roberts, one of the architects of Project 2025.[199] Vought has also been described as one of Project 2025's architects.[200] In Chapter 2 of the manifesto, Vought writes that the OMB director's role is to "bring the bureaucracy in line with all budgetary, regulatory, and management decisions", a task he would not fulfill if "he lacks knowledge of what the agencies are doing", and so must acquire "sufficient visibility into the deep caverns of agency decision-making".[201] Ed Kilgore described Vought as the "glue" that ties Musk and Republicans, saying that "OMB can exchange intel with DOGE on potential targets in the bureaucracy, while OMB will definitely guide congressional Republicans as they put together massive budget-reconciliation and appropriations bills".[202] Wired and The New York Times report that Vought helped Musk find his way into the bureaucracy.[203][204] Paul Winfree, Trump's director of budget policy during his first administration, characterized the relationship between Musk and Vought: "When Elon Musk says something, everybody responds to it. The government is not like that [...] You need people like Russ and, quite frankly, the people who Russ has been bringing into OMB as well, who are staffers who do know how to, in fact, push changes through government institutions."[205]
Critics and proponents alike have noted that parallels between the policies advocated for in Project 2025 and DOGE's stated goals and actions. Trump disavowed the project in July 2024, finding some of its ideas "ridiculous and abysmal"[206] and denying any implication;[207] he later denied knowing anything about it.[208] In August 2024, Politifact judged that some of the policies mirrored Trump's agenda as presented in his campaign, but did not find a perfect overlap.[209] For Rep. John Rose (R-TN), only Project 2025 explains the flow of executive orders.[210] CNN analyzed the first 53 and found that 36 followed it; Paul Dans, who was OPM's Chief of staff during the first Trump administration and oversaw Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation, said that it was "exactly the work [Project 2025] set out to do."[211] Politico outlined 37 cases where the orders align with it, some nearly verbatim.[212] Nine of the fifteen agencies DOGE first targeted had been identified by Project 2025 for elimination or downsizing; Bill Hoagland, former Republican staffer and director of the Senate Budget Committee for more than 20 years, considers that the DOGE playbook "has not been for the dollar savings, but more for the philosophical and ideological differences conservatives have with the work these agencies do".[42] Jill Filipovic opined that "the mass firings, the power grabs, and the agency shutterings are not just Musk's doing. They were planned and proposed well before Trump was even elected, right there for everyone to see, in Project 2025."[213] The BBC suggests that, by unifying decision chains so that Trump controls independent agencies, DOGE allows Trump to implement the unitary executive theory advocated in Project 2025.[214] NPR noted that "many of the actions that Musk took, that his DOGE group took were foreshadowed in Project 2025."[215]
Actions within the federal government
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Perspective
By the end of January, DOGE had installed Musk acolytes at the top of agencies controlling critical parts of the government:[9] the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the United States Digital Service (USDS), and the General Services Administration (GSA).[138] As it was forcing its way into federal headquarters, many heads with whom they clashed have been replaced by DOGE members.[216] Access to information systems across the bureaucracy allowed DOGE to trace money flows and determine how to choke it off:[57] it had coordinated with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to dismantle government units, such as Agency for International Development (USAID), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Department of Education (ED). Their bigger targets remain the Treasury (USDT), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and Health and Human Services (HHS): spendings by HHS amount to 31%, by SSA to 16%, and by USDT to 15% of the federal budget[217]—almost two thirds of all government expenses.[218] In a lawsuit featuring DOGE's culture of secrecy, Judge Christopher R. Cooper found that it has "obtained unprecedented access to sensitive personal and classified data and payment systems across federal agencies", and that it "appears to have the power [...] to drastically reshape and even eliminate them wholesale" without congressional input.[219][220][221] On April 9, Wired revealed that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been auditing DOGE since March over its data handling at various cabinet-level agencies.[222]
Administration of federal databases
At the OPM, DOGE revoked database access to senior staff on January 30.[223][224]
At the SSA, DOGE demanded access to databases with information about any holder of a Social Security number; Michael Russo, along with Steve Davis, pressured top officials to give Akash Bobba access to "everything, including source code".[225] On March 28, Wired magazine reported that DOGE is putting together a team to migrate the SSA's base code from COBOL to a more modern programming language, with the goal of achieving this in a matter of months, whereas most experts say it should take several years to do and test this safely.[226][227] The Washington Post reported that DOGE and the Homeland Security Department had been behind the Social Security Administration's action, on April 8, of falsely listing over 6,000 living immigrants in their database of dead people, after DOGE made efforts to use information from the Social Security Administration against immigrants; two days later, guards escorted senior SSA executive Greg Pearre, who clashed with DOGE acolyte Scott Coulter.[228] In response to a court decision that prevented DOGE to access SSA systems, SSA top official, Leland Dudek, a DOGE member, has been threatening to shut down the agency: "Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency".[229]
At HHS, DOGE member Luke Farritor has been made administrator of grants.gov on March 29; one week later he removed posting permissions to federal users; a new grantreview@hhs.gov has been created; National Institutes of Health (NIH) employees have been told that DOGE will review and approve Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO).[230] The principal deputy assistant secretary for operations declared in a February 13 sworn statement that DOGE employees grafted to the agency have full access to all unclassified agency records and are tasked, among other things, with the obligation to destroy or erase copied HHS data or information when no longer needed for official purposes.[231]
At the Department of Interior (DOI), Wired has reported that DOGE members Tyler Hassen, Stephanie Holmes, and Katrine Trampe have been seeking "full" access to DOI's payroll, human resources, and credentialing systems, like the Federal Personnel and Payroll System (FPPS); they also sought permission to create, pause, and delete email accounts. The chief information and information security officers and the associate solicitor at were placed on leave on March 28, and told they were being investigated for workplace behavior.[232]
Data collection
By April 2025, Wired reported that DOGE had entered a "new phase" focused primarily on data collection and the exfiltration of sensitive information from government agencies to private databases.[11] Whistleblowers alleged an attempt to build a "master database" on American citizens, and concerns were raised over potential cybersecurity and privacy law violations.[233] The Privacy Act of 1974 has been cited in up to fourteen lawsuits pertaining to DOGE access to data that could contain sensitive personal data.[234][235] Congressional representative Gerry Connolly stated "I am concerned that DOGE is moving personal information across agencies without the notification required under the Privacy Act or related laws, such that the American people are wholly unaware their data is being manipulated in this way."[235] On March 18, due to the lawsuits, Rep. Lori Trahan announced an effort to modernize and update the Privacy Act to address growing concerns about government surveillance, unvetted access, and misuse.[234]
At the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a whistleblower, Daniel Berulis, has revealed that the security to prevent access from unauthorized mobile device systems has been momentarily disabled. Temporary superusers transferred NRLB data (including lawyers contact information) and erased their trace afterwards. During extraction, they left the system exposed to public entry. Days before entering NLRB, Berulis noticed that DOGE member Jordan Wick was publicly working on a backdoor software days before entering NLRB;[236] earlier Wick posted to his code repository several tools seemingly related to his DOGE work.[237] Login attempts from an IP address in Russia were made minutes after DOGE gained control of the systems, using the username and password of an account created by DOGE. After Berulis and his team requested help to investigate the breach, he was sent an envelope with a threatening letter and pictures taken by drone of him walking his dog.[236]
At the Department of Homeland Security, sources told Wired that DOGE is building a master database that connect SSA data, IRS data, biometric data, and voting records; DOGE members Edward Coristine, Kyle Schutt, Aram Moghaddassi, and Payton Rehling have been granted access to United States Immigration and Naturalization Service data, which contain information on refugees, asylum seeker, naturalized citizens, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.[13]
Facilitation of downsizing
On April 3, Challenger, Gray & Christmas has reported 216,670 job cuts due to DOGE actions in March 2025.[238]
Hiring freeze
On January 20, Trump issued a memorandum simply called Hiring Freeze, in which he asked the director of OMB to submit a plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, in consultation with the director of OPM and "the Administrator of the United States DOGE Service".[239] On January 21, Ezell sent agencies directives to close "DEI offices by 5 PM EST on Wednesday, January 22".[240] and also asked employees to report those who would hide programs "by using coded or imprecise language".[241] On January 27, a memo was sent instructing OPM employees to work on-site full-time.[242] Investigative journalist Molly White found that metadata on some of these memos indicate that they were ghostwritten by Noah Peters and Thomas Shenk, both with Project 2025 ties; Peters is also a DOGE member.[243]
Probationary workers termination
On the evening of January 20, the acting administrator of OPM, Charles Ezell, sent a memo to federal agencies reminding them that new hires can be terminated while bypassing Merit System Protection Board rights, and giving them the work week to send Amanda Scales a list of all probationary employees.[135][244] On February 13, OPM advised agencies to terminate most of an estimated 200,000 probationary workers.[245][246][247] Following the guidance, layoffs cascaded across HHS,[246][248] the Federal Aviation Administration,[249] and the National Nuclear Security Administration.[250]
"Fork in the road" and "Five things" emails
Tapping into OPM systems allowed DOGE to create the hr@opm.gov address, get a list of federal employees, and contact them.[251] On January 28, the OPM offered workers a "deferred resignation" program, stating that those who resigned by February 6 would receive salary and benefits until September 30.[252] Echoing the playbook Musk used against Twitter employees,[253][254] the same subject line has been emailed: "Fork in the road".[255] By the deadline, roughly 75,000 employees had taken the offer.[256] Recipients of the offer included federal judges, despite having life tenure; one such judge was Randolph Daniel Moss, who was overseeing a lawsuit aimed at blocking the offer.[257] A PDF version of the offer added that workers who accept the buyout offer need to waive their right to legal action.[258]
On February 22, Musk posted on X ordering federal workers to summarize their weekly accomplishments, warning that noncompliance would be seen as resignation.[259][260] Shortly after, OPM emailed employees requesting five bullet point summaries.[259] The Department of Defense ordered staff and the United States Armed Forces to ignore Musk's request;[261] the FBI and State Department told their employees not to respond;[262] NASA employees were advised to delay their response;[263] HHS explicitly warned employees not to participate in the email request, due to the fact that replies might be "read by malign foreign actors."[264] Two days later, OPM stated that responding to the initial email was voluntary; however, Musk tweeted that if employees still refused to respond, it would "result in termination".[265]
Mass layoffs
On January 31, Brian Bjelde, senior advisor and DOGE member, has told career supervisors that the target was to cut 70% of OPM workforce.[137] GSA acting administrator and DOGE member Stephen Ehikian warned two weeks later that he would apply Reduction In Force (RIF) measures to the agency.[266] On March 7, DOGE has deployed its proprietary AI chatbot, intended to help workers with daily tasks, to 1,500 workers at GSA.[267] The deployment comes after Thomas Shedd fired around 90 technologists and announced that the GSA branch he supervises would shrink by 50 percent.[268] Among them was the 18F team, which Shedd deemed "non-essential".[269]
Riccardo Biasini has been modifying autorif in OPM's code repository; as the name suggests, the program is intended to automatize the Reduction in Force (RIF) process.[270]
Coordination to shut down operations
On February 1, members of DOGE gained access to classified information of USAID without sufficient security clearances.[271] DOGE personnel asked to be let into USAID headquarters and threatened to call the US Marshals,[272] which by law receive their direction from the attorney general and the director of the United States Marshals Service.[273][274] Two security chiefs at USAID attempted to deny DOGE access to the classified material, as they claimed they were "legally obligated" to do; however, they were then placed on leave by the Trump administration.[271] On March 18, DOGE member Jeremy Lewin was appointed as a deputy administrator in USAID;[275] Lewin wrote a memo on March 28 to discontinue USAID's mission, after a judge explicitly ordered that he and DOGE should be barred from making further cuts at the agency.[276][277]
On February 6, CFPB staff were told by email that DOGE members (including Nikhil Rajpal, Gavin Kliger, and Chris Young) entered the agency building and would require access to CFPB data, systems, and equipment.[278] The next evening, Russ Vought nominated himself head of it, DOGE deleted its X account, and Musk tweeted "CFPB RIP".[279]
DOGE entered ED in early February[280] and got access to internal databases with student information shortly after.[281] One week later, after having fed the department's financial data (including sensitive one) into a cloud-based AI,[282] DOGE announced that it slashed $900 million from the Institute of Education Sciences.[283] By that time, DOGE members had been pushing high ranking ED officials out of their offices and had set up white noise machines to muffle their voices; according to employees, they had been competing with one another to make the biggest budget cuts headlines while making arbitrary demands, such as cutting 80% of the funding for student loan applications websites and services.[284] On the next day, mass firings began; Linda McMahon, wrestling mogul turned secretary of education, said she would like ED "to be closed immediately" because it "is a big con job".[285] By March 11, almost half of the ED workforce had been fired.[286]
On March 17, Inter-Con Security allowed DOGE to enter the Institute for Peace (USIP); Inter-Con vice president Derrick Hanna informed USIP that DOGE had contacted them and "threatened all of their federal contracts if they did not permit entry for DOGE".[287] USIP has filed a lawsuit against DOGE, claiming that they "have plundered the offices in an effort to access and gain control of the Institute's infrastructure, including sensitive computer systems"; the filing showed photos of financial documents placed in a bin labeled "shred", and an USIP logo ripped down from the wall.[288] Court documents filed on March 31 revealed that Nate Cavanaugh, a DOGE member who acts as the Institute of Peace (USIP) surrogate president, was instructed to transfer USIP's assets—including its real estate—to the GSA. In a letter to Stephen Ehikian of the GSA, Cavanaugh sought an exemption from having to reimburse the value of the building, estimated at $500 million, which would entail the GSA receiving the building for free.[289]
Executive branch shakeup
Real assets selloff
On February 26, Trump issued an executive order that includes the immediate disposal of surplus federal property and reduce non-essential travel; the first agencies to be targeted are international organizations or overseas and educational institutions.[290]
On March 4, the GSA published a list of 443 properties to be sold, including headquarters and courthouses.[291] That list was edited the same day to remove about 120 properties and then taken off the GSA website the next day.[292] Wired subsequently reported that the list included a previously undisclosed "highly sensitive federal complex in Springfield, Virginia" where the CIA conducts clandestine operations.[293]
GSA listed 47 SSA office closures, 26 planned for 2025. The announcement has come at the same time that SSA declared its intention to shutdown phone authentication.[294] This policy would make services less accessible to children, people without a driver's license, disabled persons, and the elderly.[295] On April 9, DOGE backtracked.[296]
Recontracting
At the Department of the Treasury (USDT), Wired reported on April 14 that DOGE acolyte Sam Corcos will lead the creation of an Application Programming Interface (API) for IRS data, in Foundry, a platform and a framework developed by Peter Thiel's Palantir.[297] Earlier it revealed that two DOGE members, Corcos and Gavin Kliger, were planning to orchestrate a hackaton to create an API to interconnect all IRS databases.[298]
In March, DOGE installed a Starlink user terminal at the White House complex, raising conflict of interest concerns due to Starlink being a subsidiary of Musk-owned SpaceX. In response the White House said that the terminal was donated by Starlink and approved by legal counsel and the United States Secret Service.[299][300] GSA subscribed to Musk's internet service for its Washington offices in mid-February.[301] There are two transceivers on the roof of its DC headquarters.[302]
Outsourcing
DOGE has put a $1 spending limit on the SmartPay cards of GSA, OPM, CFPB, and USAID employees, with plans to extend the limits to other agencies.[140] On April 17, ProPublica reported multiple meetings between GSA and Ramp to outsource the SmartPay credit card program; Ramp's backers include Peter Thiel and Jared Kushner.[303]
The United States Postal Service (USPS) signed an agreement with DOGE in March to identify efficiencies.[304]
Privatization
During a Morgan Stanley conference, Musk said that "we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized", naming USPS and Amtrak as examples.[305]
During a private meeting, DOGE acolyte and SSA acting commissioner Leland Dudek proposed to outsource Social Security customer service.[149] Experts have warned that the SSA is on a path of privatization.[306]
Savings announcements
On February 17, 2025, DOGE released the names of 1,127 federal contracts spanning 39 federal departments and agencies that they said had been terminated.[307] Only 300 of these have been formally terminated.[308]
A Wall Street Journal analysis of these contracts found inaccuracies in DOGE's reported savings, including counting contracts multiple times, listing contracts that have already been paid as savings, and misrepresenting potential savings based on contract limits rather than actual spending.[309] On February 24, 2025, DOGE released more documents, with the total nearing 2,300 contracts released. The Associated Press found that "nearly 40%" of the named contract terminations would not save the government any money.[176]
Terminated contracts and leases announced by DOGE in February 2025 include:
- A $168,707 contract for an exhibit on Anthony Fauci at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Museum.[310][311][312] This contract has already been paid in full.[309]
- A $405,986 contract by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for "resilience, energy, and sustainability management program support services".[313][314]
- Three $15 million contracts by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) totalling $45 million.[315][316]
- A $2.23 million contract by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for "Equity Assessments of Existing Program Policies".[317][318]
- A $8,169,574.13 contract by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for "environmental compliance services for the implementation of pilot projects developed under the partnership for climate smart commodities".[319][320]
- An $8 million contract between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and D&G Support Services, LLC for "Equal Employment Opportunity". DOGE originally and falsely claimed this contract saved $8 billion, which was subsequently corrected down to $8 million.[307]
- A lease for the "Allowance to Former Presidents Office" located in Atlanta, Georgia. DOGE announced the lease's annual cost was $128,233 and by terminating it, they saved $544,991. Forbes reported that this was actually an office for the Carter Center, a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.[321]
- A lease for the Risk Management Agency (RMA), a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), located in Topeka, Kansas. DOGE announced the lease's annual cost was $121,818 and by terminating it, they saved $964,396. The Topeka Capital-Journal interviewed a building owner who said that "since the pandemic, they had nobody in the office for the last three years. Not one person," and that "it's a clear example of the government waste that's going on."[322]
On April 4, the DOGE account on X posted about saving a little over $1M by replacing magnetic tapes by digital backups; the community noted the archival and security risks of doing so.[323] Experts questioned the savings, as no analysis of cost and benefit has been presented,[324] and tape remains the cheapest medium to save data.[325]
Actions outside of the federal government
In early 2025, DOGE targeted two independent nonprofit organizations which conduct work for the federal government: the independently-funded Vera Institute of Justice and the congressionally-created and funded United States Institute of Peace.[326]
On April 17, DOGE members met with leaders of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) to discuss its tax exemption status.[327]
Response
DOGE has garnered responses from representatives, federal workers, and scholars. Supporters have emphasized the need for efficiency and fiscal responsibility; elected officials have created initiatives to help DOGE. Critics have spoken of a corporate coup and raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest for key DOGE figures;[328][329] workers and citizens have protested against DOGE, Musk, Trump, Tesla, and the Office of Personnel Management.[330][331][332][333][334]
Impact on the public
Summarize
Perspective
Government organization and management experts noted that the DOGE effort "appears to go beyond IT and HR initiatives to include areas such as procurement, real property, and substantive agency operations".[335] Some experts warn that the actions could negatively impact the economy and markets and may be "leaving taxpayers with an enormous bill and federal agencies in operational disarray".[336][337]
DOGE canceled at least $100 million worth of affordable housing contracts to nonprofits in February after trawling their websites for DEI terminology. According to Shaun Donovan, former secretary of HUD, said that "decision will raise costs for families, hobble the creation of affordable homes, forfeit local jobs, and sap opportunity from thousands of communities in all 50 states."[338]
On March 25, 2025, there were reports that services at the Social Security Administration (SSA) were already breaking down: multiple website crashes, call waiting times two times longer than the previous year's, a 24% answer rate, and an increase in scams; the attrition rate at the Portland field office was described as "off the charts".[339] On April 7, Gizmodo reported that SSA servers crashed after DOGE members updated their verification software without testing if it could handle load surges.[340]
Treasury Department and IRS officials have predicted a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline—more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; they noted that "DOGE-driven workforce reductions" were a factor.[341]
As of April 22, Dr. Brooke Nichols' Impact Counter estimates that there have been more than 210,000 deaths associated with the freeze on foreign medical aid.[342]
A USAID info memo written by Nicholas Enrich, Acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health, dated 4 March 2025, outlines the risks to US National Security and Public Health.[343] He states that a failure to contain infectious diseases at their source poses a direct threat to public health and economic stability. He concludes: "Any decision to halt or significantly reduce global health funding for lifesaving humanitarian assistance (LHA)-despite approved waivers-and USAID global health programming, despite congressional mandates, would have severe domestic and global consequences."[343]
Funding
Summarize
Perspective
At the time of its announcement, DOGE's budget was unknown, and several of the employees were expected to be unpaid volunteers.[344] Little from its budget has been disclosed so far.
To cover for DOGE costs until January 29, 2025, $6.75 million had been apportioned to DOGE from the Information Technology Oversight and Reform (ITOR) account that funded the legacy United States Digital Service (USDS).[335] Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) observed that this was "nearly twice the annual salaries and expenses budget of the White House". DOGE also has a Treasury account, separate from ITOR.[345] From January 30 to February 8, DOGE's budget had more than doubled to $14.4 million; filings show that the added $7.7 million was reserved "for anticipated reimbursements from agencies in support of Software Modernization Initiative".[346]
After reviewing Office of Management and Budget records, ProPublica discovered that, by February 20, DOGE budget neared $40 million. DOGE's funding has come from other federal agencies in the form of transfer payments allowed by the Economy Act. This form of payment implies that DOGE has been treated like a federal agency by the Trump administration.[6] John Lewis and Daniel Jacobson underline the dilemma: "The Trump administration's view is untenable. USDS is either an agency or it is not. And if USDS, as seems apparent, is doing more than advising the President and is instead wielding independent authority, then it faces a more fundamental challenge to its existence: no statute created USDS or vested it with the power it now appears to wield".[347]
DOGE has asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to pay for 20 full-time DOGE employees at the highest federal pay grade to modernize its information systems; the terms stipulate that OPM must pay each month in advance, and give DOGE access to its data and systems, as well as provide "operational and technical support". At the current employment rates, this would mean $4.1 million for the work between January 20 and July 4, 2026.[348]
Public disclosures forms indicate that at least three DOGE employees are drawing salaries from the General Services Administration (GSA): Jeremy Lewin ($167,000), Kyle Schutt ($195,200), and Nate Cavanaugh ($120,500). According to DOGE's website, the average GSA employee has been at the agency for 13 years and makes $128,565.[349]
An agreement between the Department of Labor (DOL) and USDS, backdated to the inauguration day, would reportedly pay $1.3 million for the work equivalent of four DOGE members, so about 10% more per employee than the top annual career civil servant salary.[350]
Workforce
Summarize
Perspective
Musk and many other DOGE members are "special government employees", an advisory role limited to a 130-day work period that can be paid or unpaid. Those who earn a substantial salary have to disclose it. Unlike federal workers, special employees are allowed to keep outside salaries and may not need to disclose conflicts of interest.[349] In his March 10 interview on Fox News, Musk told Larry Kudlow that DOGE had around 100 employees and that he planned to double his staff. He also confirmed that DOGE was present in almost every agency.[352] Except for the acting DOGE administrator, Amy Gleason, the leadership structure of DOGE has not been published.[353] In a sworn declaration on March 19, Gleason stated that 79 people were employed by DOGE, and another 10 people were detailed to it from elsewhere in the government. She added that there is no formal organizational chart, that "every member of an agency's DOGE Team is an employee of the agency or a detailee to the agency", and that no DOGE Team members report to anyone at USDS.[354] Sources have reported that Gleason's role is only nominal: in reality, Steve Davis effectively directs DOGE day-to-day operations.[355][356]
Elon Musk's role
In a February 17 affidavit, Office of Administration director Joshua Fischer told Judge Tanya Chutkan that Musk was not the administrator or an employee of DOGE but a special employee with no "authority to make government decisions."[357] Nevertheless, Trump declared two days later to have put "Musk in charge" of DOGE.[358] At a February 24 hearing, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly questioned the constitutionality of USDS and asked the government attorney, Bradley Humphreys, about its structure. He said that he ignored Musk's role beyond that of Trump advisor.[359] On the next day, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Musk is "overseeing DOGE" but refused to identify its administrator after being asked repeatedly.[360][361]
Later the same day, the White House named Amy Gleason as the acting DOGE administrator; Gleason worked from 2018 through 2021 at US Digital Service.[362][1][363] On February 28, Justice Department lawyer Joshua Gardner told Judge Theodore D. Chuang that he was unable to identify the administrator of DOGE before Gleason.[364] In a filing submitted under seal but partly released in March, the Trump administration recognized that Gleason has been working at Health and Human Services at the same time that she said having worked full-time as an administrator of USDS.[365]
In his March 4 joint address to Congress, Trump repeated that DOGE "is headed by Elon Musk".[366][367] After being quoted in lawsuits days later, Trump reportedly told members of his Cabinet that they rather than Musk and DOGE were to make staffing decisions for their departments, but a few hours later remonstrated "If they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting."[368] On March 18, the court determined that Musk was "the leader of DOGE" and that his actions in dismantling USAID violated the Appointments Clause.[369] In a separate lawsuit involving Musk's company X, his own lawyers stated that he is "in charge of" DOGE.[370] In late April, Musk told his investors that he planned to reduce his government work, but that he will "likely" continue for the remainder of Trump's term.[371]
"DOGE Kids"
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On February 2, 2025, Wired reported that DOGE hired software engineers aged 19–24 with no experience in government, including Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Marko Elez, Gautier Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran.[372] There are reports of 15-minute video interviews DOGE members conducted without identifying themselves, with queries such as "whom they would choose to fire from their teams if they had to pick one person",[373] and surprise code reviews, silently supervised by "extremely young men".[374] The team has been called "Doge Kids" by officials, reporters, and social media users.[375][376][149]
According to Brian Krebs, Edward Coristine's past deeds pose security risks:[377] The 19-year-old son of the LesserEvil owner[378] leaked information from the data-security company where he was interning,[379] mingled with 'The Com', a cybercriminal network,[380] and owns web domains registered in Russia.[381] His online footprint also makes security clearance tough, according to security experts interviewed by Wired.[381] As of February 19, Coristine is a staff member at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.[382] On March 27, documents resurfaced showing that Coristine has provided tech support to EGodly, a cybercrime group.[383] Coristine has gone by the name "Big Balls" on the internet, a nickname that has been widely used.[384][385]
Amplification of extremism also raises questions: Kliger, 25, has an edgelord past,[386] crediting Ron Unz for his political awakening[387] and reposting the likes of Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate, along with white supremacist memes.[388][389] Elez has shared similar viewpoints, with posts such as "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity" or "Normalize Indian hate".[390]
On February 24, the Washington Post reported that Farritor and Kliger manually blocked multiple times payments for life critical programs that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had approved by decree.[391][392][393] Court documents filed on March 14 have revealed that DOGE staffer Marko Elez violated U.S. Treasury Department policy by mishandling personal information.[394] Kliger has been accused of yelling at CFPB staff he kept for a 36-hour shift.[395]
Doxxing accusations
After the February 2 Wired article, names of DOGE members started to circulate; Musk accused those who did so of committing a crime.[396] The next day, interim United States attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin released a statement on Musk's social saying that certain individuals and/or groups have committed acts that appear to violate the law in targeting DOGE employees.[397] Musk quoted that statement, adding "Don't mess with DOGE".[398] On February 7, Martin sent Musk and his deputy Steve Davis a letter (also posted on his social) announcing that he had opened an investigation into government employees Musk accused of stealing property and making threats.[399][400] According to New York Times reporter Ken Bensinger, Musk was attempting to describe traditional journalism as "doxxing" in order to invalidate the role of the media in government accountability.[401]
After the names of DOGE employees began circulating on Reddit—and some users suggested violence—site administrators posted that Reddit had "seen an increase in content in several communities that violate Reddit Rules. Debate and dissent are welcome on Reddit—threats and doxing are not." The popular subreddit r/WhitePeopleTwitter was subsequently banned for three days, and a small subreddit called r/IsElonDeadYet was permanently removed.[402]
On February 11, Musk reshared a post by Laura Loomer with screenshots that identified Judge John J. McConnell Jr.'s daughter, along with her financial disclosure forms from the department.[403] This reshare followed McConnell's order to unfreeze federal grants.[404] On February 12, Rep. Andrew Clyde announced that he was drafting "articles" of impeachment against McConnell, echoing Musk's claim that there "needs to be an immediate wave of judicial impeachments, not just one".[405]
Members
TechCrunch sorts DOGE members as inner circle, senior figures, worker bees, or aides.[406] The New York Times divides them into leadership, staffers, and allies.[407] Wired maps three network types: conservative lawers, Trump administrations, and Silicon Valley.[408] DOGE membership extends beyond employee status: many Musk allies are venture capitalists and startup founders including Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen,[409] and many DOGE members are embedded in other government units.[354] Few have a known contractual status; some have tried to conceal their roles.[410] Whether any given employee belongs to the permanent (USDS) or temporary (USDSTO) unit remains unclear.
Staff roles follow the DOGE teams mentioned in the first executive order: "at least four employees" with one "Team Lead, one engineer, one human resources specialist, and one attorney".[80] On February 2, 2025, Musk said on X that DOGE workers were putting in 120 hours a week.[411] This was questioned for leaving dangerously little time to sleep.[412]
On February 18, 2025, CNN sent FOIA requests for security clearance records of DOGE team members who were granted access to sensitive or classified government networks; the response, from an OPM email address, was: "Good luck with that they just got rid of the entire privacy team". Sources told CNN that employees from the communications staff and those who handle FOIA requests were also dismissed.[413]
| Name | Role | Unit | Ties | Notes | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Abrahamson | Senior advisor | DOT | Musk: Tesla counsel, Munck Wilson Mandala | Requested access to various databases | [414][410] |
| Justin Aimonetti | Attorney | Trump: first administration; Dechert LLP (Fox News case); FedSoc contributor | Has a DOGE email; contacted the Vera Institute to send a DOGE team | [415][407][416][417] | |
| Baris Akis | Recruiter | OPM | Musk: Human Capital co-founder; tied to Amanda Scales | Hiring requested by Musk, and vetoed by Trump (Turkish citizen); recruited DOGE members | [407][418][419][409] |
| Jacob "Jake" Altik | Attorney | OPM | Trump: Neomi Rao clerk, Neil Gorsuch clerk; New Civil Liberties Alliance; Weil, Gotshal & Manges | Involved in the USADF standoff; represented DOGE in the OPM mass email lawsuit | [410][420][407][421][422][423] |
| Marc Andreessen | Musk ally | Musk: a16z backed SpaceX, xAI, and Twitter; Trump: transition team | DOGE early recruitment | [406][424] | |
| Anthony Armstrong | Senior advisor to the Director | OPM | Musk: Twitter purchase; Morgan Stanley | Denied on Fox News that DOGE changes were radical | [191][410][95] |
| Jennifer "Jehn" Balajadia | Musk aide | ED | Musk: his confidant and assistant, Boring Company | [410] | |
| Sam Beyda | DOL | Used PuTTY to transfer and access data | [425] | ||
| Alexandra T. Beynon | Expert (coding) | ED | Musk: Mindbloom, ketamine-assisted therapy company was founded by her husband; Goldman Sachs | [410][426][407] | |
| Riccardo Biasini | Senior advisor to the Director | OPM | Musk: Boring Company, Twitter, Tesla | Contact point for the government-wide email system; disclosed 1-5M in Boring stocks and 1-5M in Boring options | [410] |
| Brian Bjelde | Senior advisor | OPM | Musk: early SpaceX employee, was on the committee that terminated 80% of Twitter's employees; NASA: vested interest in company making Black Hawk helicopters autonomous (Rain) | Top DOGE lieutenant | [410][407][427] |
| Akash Bobba | Expert (coding) | OPM, GSA | Thiel: Palantir intern; Diversity Discovered CIO | Onboarded to DOGE by Frank Bisignano; asked for every bit of data at SSA | [372][407][428][429][225] |
| Ashley Boizelle | Attorney | GSA | Trump: FCC, under Ajit Pai; Sandra S. Ikuta clerk; Gibson Dunn | [430][407][416] | |
| Emily Bryant | Seen at the FTC; has an OEP and an SGA email | [410] | |||
| James Burnham | DOGE General Counsel | EOP | Trump: first administration, Neil Gorsuch clerk; FedSoc; Jones Day | [431][410][420] | |
| Nate Cavanaugh | GSA | Thiel fan; Brainbase; FlowFi (co-CEO) | Led employee interviews; tasked with dismantling USADF and IAF; paid $120,500 by GSA; contacted the Vera Institute to send a DOGE team | [409][410][349][417] | |
| George Cooper | Recruiter | Thiel: Palantir engineer | Hired Palantir talent | [406][432] | |
| Miles Collins | DOL | Named in GAO audit notes; has access to National Farmworker Jobs Program system, | [350][433] | ||
| Sam Corcos | IRS | Andreessen: Levels co-founder; health influencer; wife tied to Suleyman Kerimov | Asked for detailed taxpayer and vendor IRS information; will develop an API for IRS data in Palantir's Foundry | [297][434][435] | |
| Edward "Big Balls" Coristine | Expert (coding) | CISA | Musk: Neuralink intern; Tesla.sexy LLC owner; LesserEvil; Path Network fired intern; The Com; Valery Martynov grandson | [382][377][381] | |
| Scott Coulter | Chief Information Officer | NASA, SSA | Tiger Cubs: Cowbird Capital (now closed) | Told SSA executives to take the fork; has wide access to NASA's database; relabeled 6,100 living immigrants as dead | [228][410][436] |
| Steve Davis | DOGE day-to-day deputy leader, Musk's second in command | EOP, OPM, GSA | Musk: SpaceX, Twitter, Boring Company; Atlas Society advisor | Sleeps at GSA; pressured SSA to grant Bobba access to everything, including source code; represented DOGE on Fox News | [95][191][410][437][406][407][152] |
| Stephen Duarte | Expert (HR) | OPM | Musk: SpaceX, Bjelde colleague | [410] | |
| Leland Dudek | Acting Commissioner | SSA | Mid-level manager at the SSA (cybersecurity) | Placed on leave for breaking the chain of command to help DOGE, wrote and deleted a post on it, got promoted; threatened to shutdown SSA | [407][149] |
| Stephen Ehikian | Acting Administrator | GSA | Musk: spouse worked at X; Salesforce; AI startup | ZBB fan | [407][410][438] |
| Marko Elez | Expert (coding) | USDT | Musk: SpaceX, X, xAI, Neuralink | Fired from DOGE for past racist posts; re-hired after JD Vance's intervention | [410] |
| Luke Farritor | Executive Engineer in the Office of the Secretary | HHS, DOS | Musk: SpaceX; Thiel Fellowship | Helped DOGE recruitment; accessed at least 12 databases | [410][432] |
| Conor Fennessy | Senior advisor | ED, HHS | [410] | ||
| Joshua ("Josh") Fox | Attorney | Trump: Court of Federal Claims (Ryan T. Holte); Charles Koch: Institute for Justice; Alston & Bird | [439][416] | ||
| Justin Fulcher | Liaison | VA | Musk: longtime admirer; donated c. $40,000 to Republican lawmakers and political action committees; shady credentials according to Forbes; RingMD (bankcrupt) | Has access to the department's HR systems | [410][440] |
| Joe Gebbia | Musk ally, volunteer | OPM | Musk: Tesla board; Airbnb | Supports Robert Kennedy Jr; said on Fox News he wants an "Apple Store-like experience" for federal retirement | [95][441][442][443] |
| Matthieu Gamache-Asselin | Senior advisor | HHS | Health services: Alto co-founder | Advises on budgeting, grants and financial management | [410] |
| Derek Geissler | DOL | Used PuTTY to access and transfer data | [425] | ||
| Brady Glantz | FAA | Musk: SpaceX engineer | Special employee for 4 days; still has an FAA email | [410] | |
| Amy Gleason | Acting Administrator | USDS | Brad Smith: Russell Street Ventures; Trump: US Digital Service | Nominally oversees both USDS and USDSTO and reports to Susie Wiles | [407][444][445] |
| Mike Gonzalez | Senior advisor | OPM | David Sacks: Zenefits; TraceHQ | Lamented the state and process of the federal budget | [409] |
| Antonio Gracias | Musk ally | SSA | Musk: old friend, Tesla and SpaceX early investor, America PAC funder | Helped Trump transition; pushed anti-immigrants narratives in the media and on political platforms | [407][188] |
| Michael Grimes | DOC | Musk: Twitter acquisition; Morgan Stanley | Expected to lead the new sovereign fund | [407][446] | |
| Joshua A. Hanley | Attorney | NIH | Trump: DOJ; Federalist Society; Williams & Connolly | Authored grant termination notices | [410][407][416] |
| Tyler Hassen | Liaison | DOI | Former oil company CEO | Unsuccessfully attempted to turn on water at the Jones Pumping Plant; sought access to DOI's databases; Fox News appearance | [191][447][407] |
| Christina Hanna | Expert (HR) | OPM | Musk: SpaceX HR manager | [407] | |
| Vinay Hiremath | Recruiter | DOGE | Trump: transition team; Loom | Quit DOGE to focus on himself | [406][409] |
| Greg Hogan | Chief Information Officer | OPM | Musk: Comma.ai | Named in a lawsuit vs OPM | [407][410] |
| Nicole Hollander | GSA | Musk: Twitter, Married to Musk's lieutenant | Initiated thousands of lease cancellations on federal buildings.[448][449] | [406] | |
| Stephanie Holmes | DOGE Head of human resources | DOI | Federalist Society; Jones Day lawyer; Oklo chief people officer; BrighterSideHR: anti corporate DEI (closed) | Involved in the three-phase DEI purge plan; sought write permissions to DOI's HR resources and credentialing systems | [410][407][450] |
| Jared Isaacman | Administrator (next) | NASA | Musk: SpaceX | Awaits senate confirmation | [451] |
| Anthony Jancso | Recruiter | Thiel: Palantir software engineer; AccelerateX | [406][432] | ||
| Erica Jehling | EPA, GSA | Musk: SpaceX purchasing director | [410] | ||
| Gautier "Cole" Killian | Federal Detailee | EPA, DOL | Jump Trading (engineer) | [452][453][454][425] | |
| Thomas Kiernan | FAA | Musk: SpaceX software engineer | Ethics waver; has an official email | [410] | |
| Gavin Kliger | Senior advisor to the Director | CFPB, OPM, USAID, IRS | Edgelord past; Ron Unz fan; Databricks; LinkedIn | Disclosed 1-5M in Databricks stocks; manually blocked USAID payments authorized by Rubio; shouted at CFPB employees he made work for 36h straight | [454][387][410][455] |
| Keenan D. Kmiec[d] | Attorney | EOP | Federal circuit court (Samuel Alito); Supreme Court (John Roberts); InterPop (Tezos); Sidley Austin | Son of former U.S. ambassador Douglas Kmiec; rejects the expression "judicial activism" | [410][420][456] |
| Jon Koval | Executive | SSA | Musk: Valor Equity Partners, co-founded by Gracias, invested in SpaceX and Tesla | [457] | |
| Tom Krause | Acting Fiscal Assistant Secretary of the Treasury | USDT | Musk: Citrix and Twitter share underwriter; still CEO of Cloud Software Group, where he axed thousands of jobs, some leading to security weaknesses | Has access to Treasury payment systems, with Elez; said on Fox News he wants to audit every federal payment; involved in USAID's dismantlement | [95][191][410][458][406][459][460] |
| Michael Kratsios | Recruiter | DOGE | Trump: Chief Tech Officer in the first administration, wrote the 2020 pro-AI investment executive order; Thiel: Thiel Capital | Helped find the DOGE core members | [406][457] |
| Scott Kupor | Acting Director (planned nominee) | OPM | Andreessen: a16z; self-help author; National Venture Capital Association | [407][461][409] | |
| Scott Langmack | Liaison | HUD | Real-estate: Kukun COO; wrote The Fast Track to Your Ideal Job; became a loan shark during the 2008 recession | [407][462] | |
| Sahil Lavingia | Advisor to the Chief of staff | VA | Musk fan, brother was working at Twitter c. 2022; Gumroad CEO who fired most of his employees in 2015, to replace them with bots | Wants to "digitize the agency" with vibe coding | [463][464][465] |
| Jeremy Lewin | Chief operating officer | USAID | Musk: Munger, Tolles & Olson (Tesla); Laurence Tribe collaborator; racism and violence issues | Receives $167,000 from GSA; authorized USAID shutdown | [276][466][467][468][349] |
| Kendall M. Lindemann | Expert (HR) | EOP, USDS | Brad Smith: Russell Street Ventures associate; competitive swimmer | [410][407] | |
| Kathryn Armstrong Loving | Federal detailee | EPA | Musk: Tesla, Anthony Armstrong's sister; Y Combinator | Looking for contracts contra Trump's agenda | [6][410] |
| Shaun Maguire | Trump: supporter; Musk: Sequoia Capital (through Roelof Botha) | Helped screen DOGE candidates; vocal DOGE fan on Musk's social | [409] | ||
| Ted Malaska | FAA | Musk: SpaceX software engineer | Given an ethics waiver; holds an official email | [410][409] | |
| Tarak Makecha | Senior advisor | FBI | Musk: Tesla; Software company (finance executive) | Worked at the Justice Department on grant-making operations, and at the FCC | [407][417] |
| Katie Miller | DOGE Spokesperson | Trump: Mike Pence press secretary during the first administration, wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller | [410][469] | ||
| Clark Minor | Chief Information Officer | HHS | Thiel: Palantir | Bitcoin enthusiast, disclosed a $244,000 Palantir salary and between 1 and 5M in Palantir stocks | [410] |
| Michael Alexander Mirski | Liaison | FHFA and HUD | Real estate: on a six-month leave from TCC Management, a mobile-home park business with a possibly predatory model; mnemonist | Gained access to HUD's Enforcement Management System | [407][462] |
| Eliezer Mishory | Attorney | SEC | Formerly an attorney for Kalshi, a prediction markets firm and official at Commodity Futures Trading Commission | [470] | |
| Bryanne-Michelle Mlodzianowski | Expert (HR) | OPM | Musk: SpaceX HR Manager | [407] | |
| Aram Moghaddassi | USDT, DOL | Musk: Neuralink, Twitter | Appeared on Fox News with Musk | [95][191][471] | |
| Justin Monroe | Expert (security) | FBI | Musk: SpaceX; US Navy information warfare officer | First naval information warfare officer to be commissioned out of the Naval Academy in 2011 | [410][472] |
| Brooks Morgan | ED | Podium Education | [407] | ||
| Elon Musk | DOGE leader, Senior Advisor to Trump | Trump: spent $290 million to elect him, spent weeks at Mar-a-Lago | "Head of DOGE" according to Trump; de facto DOGE leader | [410] | |
| Noah Peters | Attorney, senior advisor | OPM, Executive Office | Trump: first administration; Project 2025 and Federalist Society collaborator; Jared Taylor lawyer; | Authored the work-from-home termination memo | [407] |
| Nikhil "Nik" Rajpal | Expert (coding) | CFPB, NOAA, OPM | Musk: Twitter | [410][473][474] | |
| Adam Ramada | Liaison | EOP, DOL | Musk: investment firm tied to a SpaceX alumnus | Identified as Team lead in two legal cases | [410] |
| Austin Raynor | Attorney, senior advisor | OPM, Executive Office | Federalist Society; clerk for Clarence Thomas; DOJ; Pacific Legal Foundation | Condones Trump's Birthright Citizenship challenge | [407][425][475] |
| Payton Rehling | Expert (coding) | SSA | Musk: Valor Equity Partners, an early Tesla investor | [476] | |
| Ryan Riedel | Chief Information Officer | DOE | Musk: SpaceX network security engineer; U.S. Army Cyber Command | [410][407] | |
| Rachel Riley | Senior advisor in the Office of the Secretary | HHS | Brad Smith: colleague; McKinsey & Company | Requested access to Medicare payment systems; declared a stake in Patriot Family Homes, owned by husband | [410][477] |
| Michael Russo | Chief Information Officer | SSA | Musk: Shift4 Payments executive, a company that process payments for Starlink | [410][471][407] | |
| Amanda Scales | Chief of Staff | OPM | Musk: xAI; Baris Akis: Human Capital; Uber | Worked on "Fork on the road" operation | [410][409] |
| Frank Schuler | Real estate executive | GSA | Real estate: syndicating easements specialist | Worked with Nate Cavanaugh on interviews | [407][478] |
| Kyle Schutt | Software engineer | GSA | Trump: Revv and WinRed raise funds for the Republican Party; Outburst, which hosts parts of the DOGE website | Is paid $195,290 by GSA; accessed FEMA systems to deobligate funds; has access to UAC portal | [410][349][409] |
| Riley Sennott | Senior advisor | NASA | Musk: Tesla; Thiel: Palantir | Conducted DOGE interviews | [479] |
| Bryton Shang | Senior advisor | NOAA | Unsuccessfully attempted to turn on water at the Jones Pumping Plant | [447][480] | |
| Ethan Shaotran | Expert (coding) | GSA, ED | Musk: xAI hackathon runner-up; OpenAI grantee with Energize.ai, on "democratic methods to decide the rules that govern AI systems" | Requested access to a decade's worth of GSA data | [454][409][481] |
| Gary Shapley | Acting administrator | IRS | Trump: first administration | Put into the role by Musk without having consulted with Trump or Scott Bessent; fired, and replaced by Michael Faulkender | [482] |
| Thomas Shedd | Chief Information Officer, Acting Director | GSA (TTS) | Musk: Tesla engineer | Outlined an 'AI-first strategy' to GSA employees; worked at DOL | [410][407][158] |
| Alexander Simonpour | NASA | Musk: Tesla | Helps NASA's reduction in force | [451] | |
| Brad Smith | DOGE Chief of staff | HHS | Trump: FEMA, CMMI, Jared Kushner friend; Musk: met with him and Lutnick at Mar-a-Lago | Medicaid and Medicare privatization advocate; requested access to the Medicare payment system; appeared on Fox News | [191][410][365][409][483] |
| Sam Smeal | FAA | Musk: SpaceX software engineer | Has an official email | [410] | |
| Brendan Spikes | OPM | Musk: PayPal, Zip2 Tesla, SpaceX; Spikes Security; California Russian Association | Left after two months | [484] | |
| Christopher Stanley | Musk aide | OPM | Musk: SpaceX principal engineer, Twitter security engineer; Trump: assisted January 6 rioters; leaked LizardStresser's database | Named on Fannie Mae board, resigned; installed Starlink terminals on the Whitehouse | [410][407][485] |
| Katherine Trampe | Advisor to Doug Burgum | DOI | Sought access to the Federal Personnel and Payroll System | [232] | |
| Russell "Russ" Vought | Acting Director | OMB | Trump: same role under the first administration; Project 2025; Heritage Action; Center for Renewing America | Named himself the CFPB acting administrator to shut it down | [407][279] |
| Cary Volpert | OPM | Musk: SpaceX | [408] | ||
| Jordan M. Wick | Expert (coding) | CFPB, DOL | Thiel: Accelerate SF; Waymo | Granted extensive access to CFPB data; posted firing bot snippets on GitHub; suspected of having extracted NLRB data | [410][407][409][237][236] |
| Joanna Wischer | Policy analyst | Trump: speech writer | [407][425] | ||
| Ryan Wunderly | Special advisor | USDT | Thiel: Anduril | [407][410] | |
| Chris Young | Musk's top political advisor | CFPB, Executive Office | Trump: America PAC's director and treasurer; Bobby Jindal staffer; PhRMA lobbyist; Republican National Committee | [406][486][410] |
See also
Related pages
- Response to the Department of Government Efficiency
- 2025 United States federal mass layoffs
- 2025 U.S. federal deferred resignation program
- US federal agencies targeted by DOGE
- 2025 United States government online resource removals
- Lawsuits involving the Department of Government Efficiency
- Government spending in the United States
- United States federal budget
- Expenditures in the United States federal budget
Related committees
- United States Senate Committee on Appropriations – Standing committee of the United States Senate
- United States House Committee on Appropriations – Standing committee of the United States House of Representatives
Similar commissions
| Year(s) | Name |
|---|---|
| 1905 | Keep Commission |
| 1910–1913 | Commission on Economy and Efficiency |
| 1916–1933 | United States Bureau of Efficiency |
| 1937 | Brownlow Committee |
| 1947–1949 | Hoover Commission |
| 1953–1955 | Second Hoover Commission |
| 1982–1984 | Grace Commission |
| 1993–1998 | National Partnership for Reinventing Government |
| 2006–2012 | Project on National Security Reform |
Notes
- Trump has repeatedly stated that Musk is "in charge" of DOGE, although the administration has stated that he is neither an official nor an employee in the organization, nor authorized to make government decisions. On March 18, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland determined that Elon Musk was "the leader of DOGE" and was exercising the authority of its lawful administrator on a de facto basis.[2][3][4]
- The expression "DOGE agenda" is used three times in the text of the first executive order (E.O. 14158). The first (Sect. 1) is to state that DOGE is established to "implement the President's DOGE Agenda"; the second (Sect. 3b) to state that the USDSTO "shall be dedicated to advancing the President's 18-month DOGE agenda"; the third (Sect. 3c) to state that DOGE Team leads "coordinate their work with USDS and advise their respective Agency Heads on implementing the President's DOGE Agenda." Executive order 14222 does not mention the DOGE agenda, but rather refers to a "cost efficiency initiative".
References
Further reading
External links
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