02-21-2025 
What is Elon Musk’s DOGE?
20 February, 2025
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Elon Musk isn’t just battling OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; he’s also waging a broader fight against government inefficiency. As the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) executive, Musk sees it as a mission to modernize federal operations. While he likely views it as an opportunity to bring innovation to bureaucracy, many government agencies and workers feel as though their jobs are under siege. Government employees perceive that DOGE is a threat, with the potential to cut funding, eliminate positions, and even dissolve entire departments.
Elon Musk’s political influence
The seeds for DOGE were planted months before the 2024 presidential election. This year, tech CEOs noticeably ramped up their political donations, and their contributions were being publicized, with Musk making headlines for contributing an estimated $277 million to Donald Trump’s campaign, making him the single largest individual donor of the election cycle.
As Musk’s financial support for Trump became public, so did his increasing presence on the campaign trail. In August 2024, Trump remarked at a rally that if elected, he would consider giving Musk an advisory role in his administration. Musk immediately responded by posting on X, saying: “I am willing to serve.”
Shortly afterward, in September 2024, Trump formally acknowledged Musk’s endorsement and stated that, at Musk’s suggestion, he would create a Government Efficiency Commission—a task force dedicated to conducting a full audit of federal operations and recommending drastic reforms. Trump named Musk the head of this initiative and publicly praised his business acumen.
After Trump’s election victory, he wasted no time making DOGE official. On November 12, 2024, Trump announced that Musk, alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, would co-lead the newly formed DOGE. However, by Inauguration Day (January 20, 2025), Ramaswamy abruptly stepped down, citing his intention to run for governor of Ohio. While he framed his departure as a political pivot, there was speculation that he disagreed with Musk about how the department would be run. He later said, “We had different and complementary approaches. I focused more on a constitutional law, legislative-based approach. He focused more on a technology approach, which is the future approach.”
With Ramaswamy out, Musk took full control. Later that day, Trump signed an executive order formally establishing DOGE, stating:
“This Executive Order establishes the Department of Government Efficiency to implement the President’s DOGE Agenda by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
The order also set a clear expiration date for DOGE of July 4, 2026.
DOGE’s cost-cutting measures
While the media tends to frame DOGE as a government downsizing initiative, its stated mission is to improve efficiency and productivity. In some cases, this does mean eliminating roles and restructuring teams to be more performance-driven, but the department has also launched broader initiatives to reduce wasteful spending and, to date, claims to have saved an estimated $55 billion.
One of DOGE’s first major moves was offering federal employees a buyout package, giving them until February 6, 2025, to resign voluntarily while still receiving salary and benefits until September 30, 2025. Over 40,000 government workers accepted the offer, an effort that reportedly saved billions in taxpayer dollars.
Beyond employee buyouts, DOGE has aggressively pursued cost-cutting measures, including threatening to shut down inefficient government agencies, mandating the elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across federal departments, and auditing internal agency records to track spending and identify financial inefficiencies. When DOGE finds inefficiencies or unwarranted spending, it cancels contracts and leases to terminate the flow of funds to what it deems inefficient initiatives.
To further track the flow of funds, Musk has hinted that DOGE is considering using a public blockchain for tracking government spending, processing payments, and managing public assets. He has allegedly been meeting with representatives from public blockchain networks to determine the best fit for DOGE’s transparency initiatives.
DOGE has also taken a hardline approach to claw back funds from agencies suspected of misallocating resources. In some cases, the department has even fired high-ranking officials it deems responsible for inefficiencies or financial mismanagement.
DOGE faces resistance
DOGE’s aggressive tactics immediately sparked widespread pushback, with a growing number of government officials, agencies, and political opponents labeling the actions of DOGE as unconstitutional. Multiple lawsuits have been filed in an attempt to halt DOGE’s actions, arguing that the agency has overstepped its authority by freezing funding for certain government programs, accessing confidential agency data, and reviewing the financial and medical records of American citizens.
What’s interesting is that the DOGE team’s work is relatively unprecedented. The institution exists as a sort of pseudo-government agency, which complicates several related matters, especially the lawsuits brought against it. While some courts have ruled in favor of DOGE’s activities, others have temporarily blocked certain actions.
In several ways, DOGE reminds me of DeepSeek when it first launched. Both are spearheaded by controversial figures, are in their earliest days, and threaten incumbents in the market and their business activities. However, unlike DeepSeek, I don’t see DOGE fading into the background anytime soon.
One of the most vocal criticisms of DOGE revolves around its hiring practices. While the department employs over 20 staff members, media attention has fixated on the handful of recent college grads with access to government records and personal data. Critics argue that these young hires lack the experience to be entrusted with such responsibilities, particularly when it comes to sensitive information like Social Security and health records.
Although there probably is a case to be made about the oversight needed in some of these instances, I see the dispute against the employees as a strawman argument. The real reason for the outcry from government agencies threatened by DOGE probably comes from a place of fear—fear that DOGE will expose wasteful spending, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and financial mismanagement that have long gone unchecked within their departments.
This isn’t a secret, either. Even the government itself likes to “joke” about how slow it moves and how outdated its systems and processes are. This may be funny to them but isn’t funny to the people who actually need something from them—or to taxpayers who are in the process of finding out that their money is being spent inefficiently. For example, DOGE identified numerous government buildings that were sitting empty while still costing taxpayers millions in rent.
What’s next for DOGE?
Despite mounting lawsuits and political resistance, I wouldn’t expect DOGE to slow down anytime soon. In fact, I’d expect to see more contract and lease cancellations, resignations, firings, agency restructurings, and legal battles over DOGE’s authority.
While DOGE was created with an expiration date of July 4, 2026, I wouldn’t be surprised if, as the deadline approaches, officials claim the department has been so effective that it warrants an extension. Until then, Musk and his team have continued to push forward, brushing off—or even welcoming—criticism of DOGE’s activities and reminding the world that everything the agency does is public and can be tracked on its official website and X account.
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