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Network of the Department of Government Efficiency
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The network of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) consists of personnel, allies, and associates appointed during the second presidency of Donald Trump to implement his government efficiency initiative. DOGE's structure has not officially been published. The identity of its members was revealed by investigative journalists, which Musk described as doxing.[2] Many of them were young coders without government experience.[3] Roughly 40 DOGE members worked for Musk; the broader network also includes allies from Silicon Valley, the Trump administration and conservative legal circles.[4] In July, ProPublica tracked down more than 100 DOGE members; at least 23 of them were making cuts at agencies that regulate where they previously worked.[5]
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DOGE membership has been consistently obfuscated by the administration. Leadership was also blurred: while Amy Gleason was named Acting Administrator[6] and Steve Davis reportedly managed daily operations,[7] Elon Musk has been described by Trump as being "in charge",[8] and a court has declared him the "DOGE leader".[9] In April 2025, Musk declared he would work on DOGE remotely,[10] months after declaring his intent to ban remote work for federal workers.[11] Musk and Davis left DOGE at the end of May.[12][13]
Members of the network entered or joined various federal agencies.[14] DOGE took control of information systems to facilitate mass layoffs. Actions from its members have met various responses, including lawsuits.
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"DOGE Kids"
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On February 2, Wired revealed that DOGE hired six coders aged 19–24 with no experience in government: Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Marko Elez, Gautier Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran.[3] They reportedly conducted 15-minute video interviews with federal workers without identifying themselves, with queries such as "whom they would choose to fire from their teams if they had to pick one person",[15] and surprise code reviews, silently supervised by "extremely young men".[16] The team has been called "Doge Kids" by officials, reporters, and social media users.[17][18][19]
Coristine has gone by the name "Big Balls" on the internet, a nickname widely referenced in the media.[20] According to Brian Krebs, Coristine's past poses security risks:[21] The 19-year-old son of the LesserEvil owner[22] leaked information from the data-security company where he was interning,[23] mingled with 'The Com',[24] owned domains registered in Russia,[25] and provided tech support to another cybercrime group.[26] Kliger has an edgelord past,[27] crediting Ron Unz for his political awakening[28], reposting Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate, along with supremacist memes.[29] Elez has shared similar viewpoints, with posts such as "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity" and "Normalize Indian hate."[30]
On February 24, the Washington Post reported that Farritor and Kliger manually blocked payments for critical programs multiple times, programs that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had approved by decree.[31][32][33] Court documents filed on March 14 have revealed that DOGE staffer Marko Elez violated U.S. Treasury Department policy by mishandling personal information.[34] Kliger was accused of yelling at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) staff he kept for a 36-hour shift.[35] In June, Coristine resigned from DOGE and moved to SSA.[36]
Doxing accusations
On February 4, Musk accused of doxing those who circulated the names of the DOGE kids.[37] The next day, Ed Martin stated this violated the law,[38] 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.[2]
Toward a comprehensive list
On February 4, Wired identified Nikhil Rajpal at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[39] Days later, CNN revealed that Farritor has been granted access to Department of Energy's information systems despite their Chief Information Officer's objections.[40] Days after it identified three laywers tied to the Supreme Court,[41] ProPublica published on February 8 a list of who is involved in DOGE; it last updated its list on June 10.[42] On February 12, Wired revealed that the new chief information officers of OMB, OPM, and DoE were tied to Palantir or SpaceX. [43]
On February 18, TechCrunch published a list of DOGE staffers, and the senior advisors coming from Musk's inner circle[44]; that list has been updated on May 20.[45]
On February 24, Wired identified Luke Farritor, Rachel Riley, Jeremy Lewin, and Clark Minor at the National Institute of Health.[46] Days later, the New York Times said much of DOGE's "operations are opaque, and most of its personnel have not been disclosed by the Trump administration"; they tracked the roles DOGE members officially took, and the agencies to which they were delegated, and also mapped the ties that could explain why the members were hired.[47]
Musk said in early March there were around DOGE 100 employees, and planned to double the staff.[48] On March 9, Wired reported that three DOGE members tied to Palantir were recruiting talent there,[49] and that Musk allies were installed at GSA.[50]. On March 26, Politico listed names from DOGE's "legal army".[51] Wired mapped DOGE's corporate connections as known by the end of March.[4] Musk appeared at the end of the month on Fox News, along seven DOGE advisors, whom The Hill profiled.[52] The Washington Post and Bloomberg followed suit in April, with their own lists.[53][54]
ProPublica published in June a list of 100 DOGE members, the most comprehensive list to date.[5]
Leadership
One month after being taken over by DOGE, Multiple legacy USDS employees could not identify its leadership.[6] 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 government employee with no "authority to make government decisions". Trump declared two days later to have put "Musk in charge" of DOGE.[55] At a February 24 hearing, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly questioned the constitutionality of retrofitting DOGE as the United States Digital Service and asked the government attorney, Bradley Humphreys, about its structure; he said that he ignored Musk's role beyond that of Trump advisor.[56] On the next day, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Musk is "overseeing DOGE" but refused to identify its administrator after being asked repeatedly.[57][58]
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.[59][60] 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.[61] 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 the US DOGE Service.[62] At the end of February, neither the White House nor its lawyers could confirm who was running it.[63]
In his March 4 joint address to Congress, Trump repeated that DOGE "is headed by Elon Musk".[64][65] 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."[66] On March 18, Chuang determined that Musk was "the leader of DOGE" and that his actions in dismantling USAID violated the Appointments Clause.[67] In a May 21 Supreme Court filing, Solicitor General John Sauer told the court that Musk "is not part of" DOGE.[68] In a separate lawsuit involving Musk's company X, his own lawyers stated that he is "in charge of" DOGE.[69] 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.[70]
Obfuscation
While Musk promised "maximal transparency" and Trump revealed the size of DOGE (c. 100 people), details about spendings, workforce or operations were not made public by the administration.[71] USDS staffers reported that the DOGE team embedded isolated themselves from the other members of the agency.[72] CNN sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in February for security clearance records of DOGE members who were granted access to sensitive or classified government data; 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.[73]
Administration officials have contested DOGE membership in internal communications, in public, and in courts.[74] Amy Gleason argued in group chat she had no control over DOGE members hired by other agencies, nor any responsibility regarding their actions, including firings.[75] General Services Administration (GSA) administrator and DOGE member Stephen Ehikian stated "there is no DOGE team at GSA"[76] even though Steve Davis had taken up offices at GSA. 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 the US DOGE Service.[77][78] In a court case involving the "Fork in the road" mass email, DOGE member Jacob Altik has been presented as a lawyer from the Office of Personnel Management when trying to shut down the African Development Foundation along with other DOGE members.[79]
Musk departure
In April, Elon Musk ceased basing his DOGE work from the White House, instead opting to work remotely.[80] During Tesla's earnings call on April 22, 2025, Musk said: "Starting early next month, in May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly [...] I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla."[81][82] This has been widely interpreted as a response to drops in Tesla's stock and sales resulting from Musk's work with DOGE;[83] David Sacks attributed the pivot to Musk’s modus operandi and usual shifts in focus.[84] Musk clarified that he was not planning to step away from DOGE entirely, saying that he would "spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so".[85] Musk began working remotely around the same time,[86][87] months after expressing his intent to ban remote work for federal workers.[88]
Musk's offboarding began on May 28 at the end of his scheduled time as a special government employee.[89][90] Top Musk lieutenant Steve Davis, top DOGE adviser Katie Miller and DOGE general counsel James Burnham would be leaving as well.[91] Trump officially thanked Musk during an Oval Office farewell on May 30, and said Musk was "not really leaving".[92] During an interview with Brett Baier on June 1, Musk criticized Trump's "big beautiful bill" for undoing DOGE's work.[93] Shortly after, the Trump–Musk feud erupted.
After Musk left, DOGE affiliates started to integrate agencies as in-house colleagues, not as members of a separate organization embedded to them; legacy employees told Wired they were asked not to call them "DOGE". According to Sahil Lavingia and other sources, Davis was still involved after he officially left, through Signal.[14]
In June, OMB director Russell Vought said that DOGE has become "far more institutionalized at the actual agency".[94] Multiple DOGE employees changed employment classifications. [95]
DOGE has continued to recruit tech workers, promising up to $195,000.[96]
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Composition
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Status
Special government employees have 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.[97][98]
Musk said in March 2025 that there are around 100 employees and that he planned to double the staff.[99]
Selection
While the White House Presidential Personnel Office made political loyalty to Trump a cornerstone of its hiring strategy, DOGE employees were onboarded through a separate Musk-led process.[100]
Many DOGE members made financial contributions to the Trump campaign.[101]
Units
Many DOGE members are embedded in other government units;[102] there are at least 23 employees hired between Jan. 20 and Feb. 20 that, according to Bloomberg, "have worked for DOGE in some capacity" at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).[103] Few have a known contractual status; some have tried to conceal their roles; the White House provides little information.[104]
Roles
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".[105]
Ties
TechCrunch sorts "Musk's universe" as inner circle, senior figures, worker bees, or aides;[45] the New York Times associates the "clear mandate" of "shrinking and disrupting" government" to DOGE leadership, staffers, and allies;[47] Wired mapped four types of DOGE affiliation: Musk (roughly 40 DOGE members were tied to him), conservative lawyers, Trump, and Silicon Valley.[4]
Membership extends beyond employee status: many DOGE allies are venture capitalists and startup founders.[106]
At least 23 DOGE officials are making cuts at agencies that regulate where they previously worked.[5]
Members
Keys
- [a] – ProPublica's updated list[107]
- [b] – Bloomberg's Musk associates[54]
- [c] – The Hill's seven names[52]
- [d] – Wired's map[4]
- [e] – Politico's "legal army"[51]
- [f] – New York Times' tracker[47]
- [g] – TechCrunch's universe[45]
- [h] – Washington Post's list[53]
- [i] – Wired's six young coders
- [j] – Wired's GSA report[50]
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External links
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