Inside Elon Musk's DOGE plan to cut government costs

An unpaid group of billionaires, high-tech executives and protégés of powerful Republican donor Peter Thiel are preparing to take unofficial positions in the U.S. government in the name of cutting costs. There is.

President-elect Donald J. Trump's so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” is working hard to combat “wasteful” spending, and is putting people with ties to co-leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in federal positions. Preparations are underway to dispatch them to various institutions. .

After the inauguration, a group of wide-eyed, Silicon Valley-influenced recruits will be placed in Washington's alphabet soup of agencies. The goal is for most major agencies to eventually have two DOGE representatives in an effort to cut costs, as Musk did with social media platform X.

This story is based on interviews with approximately a dozen people familiar with DOGE operations. They spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

On the eve of Trump's inauguration as president, DOGE's structure is still amorphous and tightly held. Officials involved in the operation said confidentiality and avoiding leaks were paramount, with much of the communication taking place over the encrypted messaging app Signal.

Trump said the initiative would foster “drastic change” and that the organization would provide outside advice on how to cut wasteful spending. DOGE itself does not have the power to cut spending; that power rests with Congress. Instead, they are expected to provide recommendations on programs and other areas to cut.

However, parts of the strategy are becoming clear. Many of the executives involved expect to serve six months of volunteer work within the federal government before returning to higher-paying jobs. Mr. Musk has said they will not be paid, so it is not a starting point for some of the tech executives who were originally interested, but Mr. Musk has asked them to work 80 hours a week. Some, including Mr. Musk, will likely become so-called special public servants, a special category of temporary employees who can work for the federal government no more than 130 days out of 365.

Representatives will primarily be located within federal agencies. After consideration by government officials, it is currently unlikely that DOGE will incorporate itself as an organized external entity or nonprofit organization. Rather, it will likely exist as a brand for a connected group of ambitious leaders who participate in communal group chats and share loyalty to Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy.

“The cynics among us will say, 'Oh, these naive billionaires are jumping into a fight,' but the other side will say that this is an attack on the nation that was common in the founding of the country. I would say it’s a service,” said Trevor Traina, an entrepreneur who worked with colleagues who considered joining DOGE during the first Trump administration.

“The friends I know are living great lives,” Traina said. You can view it from either direction. ”

DOGE leaders told others that a small number of people who are not familiar with the agency are working in the Executive Office of the U.S. Digital Service, which former President Barack Obama created in 2014 to “change the government's approach to technology.” He said he will be taken into custody.

DOGE will also have an office in the Office of Management and Budget, and officials are also considering establishing a think tank outside the government in the future.

Musk's friends are closely involved in selecting personnel for various agencies. Those interviewed by DOGE include Marc Andreessen, Sean Maguire and Barris Akis, Silicon Valley investors with personal ties to Musk. Recipients of the Thiel Fellowship, a prestigious Thiel-funded grant given to those who commit to taking a leave of absence or dropping out of college to become entrepreneurs, are among the recipients of DOGE's programming and operations. Some people are involved in. Brokering introductions to Musk, Ramaswamy, or their inner circle has become an important way for leaders to be selected for assignments.

Loom co-founder Vinay Hiremath said he became involved with DOGE in a rare public statement from a party that has worked with DOGE. In a post on his blog earlier this month, Hiremas described the work DOGE officials had done before deciding to abandon his move to Washington and join DOGE.

“After eight phone calls with some fast-talking and very smart-looking people, I was added to some Signal groups and got the job right away,” he wrote. “The next four weeks of my life consisted of hundreds of calls recruiting some of the smartest people I've ever talked to, working on various projects I'll never talk about, and trying to figure out how the government is completely It was great to learn what was going on.”

These recruits are assigned to specific agencies where they are thought to have expertise. Several other DOGE registrants came to Musk and Ramaswamy's attention through X. In recent weeks, the DOGE account on X posted requests for a “very small number” of full-time salaried positions for engineers and replacements. The function of the office is the same as that of human resources.

The DOGE team, which includes paid engineers, primarily works out of a glass building at SpaceX's downtown offices a few blocks from the White House. Mr. Ramaswamy and some people close to Mr. Musk are hopeful that these DOGE engineers will be able to leverage artificial intelligence to find cost-cutting opportunities.

This wide-ranging effort is run by two people from very different backgrounds. One is Brad Smith, a healthcare entrepreneur and former top health official in Trump's first White House who is close to Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. . Mr. Smith has effectively managed DOGE during the transition period, with particular focus on recruiting employees to be assigned to the agency.

Mr. Smith has worked closely with Mr. Musk's associate of 20 years, Steve Davis, who is widely considered to be Mr. Musk's representative in all matters. Mr. Davis also joined Mr. Musk in asking the experts questions about topics such as the federal budget.

Others involved include Matt Ruby, Ramaswamy's chief of staff and childhood friend. Joanna Wisher, Trump campaign official. and Rachel Riley, a McKinsey partner who works closely with Smith.

Chris Gober, Musk's personal attorney, and Steve Roberts, Ramaswamy's personal attorney, have investigated various legal issues surrounding DOGE's structure. Former Justice Department official James Burnham also assists DOGE with legal matters. Bill McGinley, who Trump originally named as White House Counsel and was instead appointed as DOGE's general counsel, has a more minimal role.

“DOGE will be a cornerstone of the new administration and will help President Trump realize his vision of a new golden age,” said Mr. Ramaswamy, founder of investment firm Azoria, and a confidant of Mr. said James Fishback, who provides external advice to the government. Doge.

Despite all this power, many budget experts are deeply skeptical about the initiative and its cost-cutting ambitions. Musk initially said the effort could reduce the $6.75 trillion federal budget by “at least $2 trillion.” But budget experts say that goal will be difficult to reach without cutting popular programs like Social Security and Medicare, which Trump has vowed not to cut.

Both Musk and Ramaswamy reiterated what success means to them. Last month, Ramaswamy emphasized the DOGE-led deregulation of X, saying deregulation could stimulate the economy, saying, “DOGE's success cannot be measured solely by deficit reduction.''

And Musk downplayed the potential total savings in an interview last week with Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of marketing firm Stagwell.

“We're going to strive for $2 trillion. I think that's kind of the best outcome,” Musk said. “There has to be some kind of overdose. If you strive for 2 trillion, I think you have a good chance of getting 1 trillion.”