Elon Musk's Controversial Bid to Revolutionize Federal Government

Bringing the Twitter overhaul to the White House.

In November 2024, a mysterious team known as DOGE—the Department of Government Efficiency—emerged in Washington under a Trump executive order. Reporting directly to the White House Chief of Staff and led by Elon Musk, the team’s singular mission is to “modernize federal technology and software” in order to “maximize government efficiency and productivity.”

Musk’s commitment to DOGE mirrors his dedication to his other ventures. As reported by WIRED, he even sleeps in the DOGE office—a nod to his days at the Tesla factory. Musk explained that sleeping on the floor sends a message: leadership stands shoulder-to-shoulder with employees rather than lounging on a tropical island. At his request, Eight Sleep—a high-tech mattress company—delivered a batch of mattresses to the DOGE office.

On his social platform X, Musk claimed that DOGE employees work 120 hours per week compared to the standard 40-hour workweek of federal agency employees. “Move fast and break things” remains his signature leadership mantra.

Rapid Changes and Early Actions

DOGE has mirrored many of the drastic changes Musk implemented during his 2022 acquisition of Twitter—now rebranded as X. In a 2022 email, Musk urged Twitter employees to either resign or commit to being “extremely hardcore,” with the subject line reading “Fork in the Road.” Two years later, an identical email—with the same subject line—was sent to hundreds of thousands of U.S. federal government employees, including CIA personnel, offering a buyout for those who chose to “voluntarily resign” while continuing to receive their salary through September 30.

DOGE’s first major move targeted the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), marking the beginning of a dramatic federal workforce reduction. On February 2, Musk announced plans to shut down USAID, the agency responsible for global humanitarian aid. According to current and former USAID officials, all humanitarian operations worldwide have been suspended; out of more than 10,000 employees globally, all but approximately 600 have been placed on leave.

Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst released a list of USAID-funded projects she described as “wasteful and dangerous,” suggesting that DOGE’s intervention finally brought relief to taxpayers. Examples included a $20 million grant to Sesame Workshop for “Ahlan Simsim Iraq” and programs in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Ukraine that critics claim squandered resources.

Investigations, AI, and Efficiency Measures

During its investigation of the U.S. Treasury, DOGE uncovered what Musk labeled “fraud.” On X, he highlighted that over $100 billion in benefits are paid annually to individuals without Social Security numbers or temporary IDs, estimating that about half of this—$50 billion per year—might be fraudulent. In response, Treasury is implementing measures such as new payment classification codes, a “do not pay” list for fraudulent or deceased entities, and additional payment “reason fields” to justify expenses.

DOGE is also pushing the envelope on using artificial intelligence to operate government systems while reducing personnel. The team employs AI programs to analyze sensitive government data, audit expenditures, and identify inefficiencies. Unlike traditional audits, DOGE’s AI systems have direct access to Treasury’s core databases and use algorithms to detect anomalies—potentially paving the way for automation to replace human positions.

The team has also used AI to scrutinize sensitive data from the Department of Education, auditing contracts, grants, and other expenses via Microsoft’s Azure cloud services. According to a government official, the ultimate goal is to “replace human power with machine power.”

The DOGE Team

Much like his approach with the X acquisition, Musk has assembled a tight-knit team to run DOGE. Several team members hail from his private companies—including The Boring Company, Tesla, and xAI—and he has recruited young engineers to reimagine government operations. Many DOGE members are in their early 20s; some have just graduated, while others have taken leaves of absence or dropped out, mostly in their junior or senior years. Notably, many have previously worked or interned at Musk’s companies or have ties to firms connected to Peter Thiel, who currently chairs Palantir, a major U.S. government contractor.

Notable team members include:

• Luke Farritor (23): A software engineer who gained fame for using AI to decode Greek text in ancient scrolls, earning his team a $700,000 prize. He was also selected for a 2024 Thiel Fellowship.

• Akash Bobba: A recent UC Berkeley graduate with internship experience at Meta and Palantir.

• Edward Coristine: A 2023 high school graduate now at Northeastern University, who interned at Musk’s Neuralink last summer.

• Gavin Kliger (25): A 2020 UC Berkeley graduate in electrical engineering and computer science, currently serving as a senior advisor at the Office of Personnel Management.

• Gautier Cole Killian: A 2019 high school graduate who attended McGill University until 2021 and is now volunteering for DOGE, with previous experience at Jump Trading.

Controversy, Legal Challenges, and the Road Ahead

DOGE’s aggressive reforms have generated significant controversy. While the exposure of alleged fraud appears to reduce unnecessary payments without cutting essential public services, critics warn that these actions could undermine federal agencies that provide critical services.

Many Democrats—and some Republicans—are deeply concerned that Musk and his team are not bound by the same ethical constraints and rules governing federal employees, raising questions about accountability and legality. Moreover, feeding sensitive data into AI systems increases the risk of data breaches or cyberattacks, and AI-generated analyses can be prone to errors.

Legal challenges have already emerged. Minutes after Trump’s inauguration, the first lawsuit was filed, alleging the illegal delegation of government decision-making power to private individuals. Subsequent lawsuits include one filed by the union representing USAID employees—after Musk harshly criticized the agency as a “criminal organization”—and another from the Treasury employees’ union, which resulted in a federal judge restricting DOGE staff’s access to sensitive payment systems. Legal experts suggest that the final scope of DOGE’s authority will depend on the outcomes of these and other lawsuits, with some potentially reaching the Supreme Court.

In just over a month since its formation, DOGE has set an ambitious target of reducing the annual federal budget by up to $2 trillion. Musk believes that advanced data analytics and AI can transform government administration, and his “move fast, break things” ethos appears to have migrated from startup culture to Washington. Whether this tech-driven transformation will lead to a more efficient and transparent government or spark further conflict between technology and established authority remains to be seen. One thing is certain—there is no going back to the old ways.