What is Musk's DOGE, the secretive unit operating in the public eye?

By Tim Reid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has regularly praised tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency for its role in cutting the size of the federal workforce and halting thousands of government programs and contracts.

In just nine weeks entire government agencies have been dismantled and tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3-million strong federal workforce have been fired or agreed to take a buyout.

Critics say DOGE has been given extraordinary power by Trump and that it operates with no oversight and in secret, although Musk maintains it is transparent.

Lawsuits challenging DOGE's actions have offered glimpses into its operations but also raised more questions, including whether Musk is actually in charge of DOGE. Government court filings say he is not, but Trump says he is.

WHAT IS DOGE?

DOGE was created by an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office on January 20 to "modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."

Despite its name, DOGE is not a government department created by an act of Congress. It is a temporary organization that took over an existing unit within the White House, the U.S. Digital Service. 

Its mandate, due to expire on July 4, 2026, now far exceeds the confines of the language of the initial executive order as its staffers sweep through government departments looking for spending and staff cuts. 

Musk, the world's richest person, does not draw a government salary and operates as a "special government employee," with a 130-day limit to his role in remaking the federal bureaucracy, the White House has said. Musk told Fox News in March he could stay on for another year.

Facing questions from judges over who exactly is in charge of the unit, the White House named Amy Gleason, a former healthcare executive, as acting administrator.

In a court filing on March 19, Gleason said Musk does not work at DOGE. "I do not report to him, and he does not report to me. To my knowledge, he is a senior adviser to the White House," Gleason said.

However, in a speech to Congress on March 4, Trump said DOGE "is headed by Elon Musk." Musk has also appeared before Trump's cabinet at least twice and at a press briefing in the Oval Office to explain the work of DOGE.

The DOGE team is small, with about 79 appointed employees and 10 employees seconded from other agencies, Gleason said in her court filing.

"Every member of the agency's DOGE team is an employee of the agency or a detailee to the agency," Gleason said. She added that DOGE members report to their agency heads, not to her or anyone else at DOGE.

Many of the staffers are young software engineers who are current and former employees in Musk companies. They have little to no experience inside the U.S. government.

Musk has said his goal is to find $1 trillion in savings. The federal budget is set to reach about $7 trillion this year.

HAS DOGE SAVED MONEY?

According to its website, the only official window into its operations, DOGE estimates it has saved U.S. taxpayers $115 billion as of March 24 through a series of actions including workforce reductions, asset sales, and contract cancellations.

Yet its savings total is unverifiable and its calculations have been riddled with errors and corrections.

In the "receipts" section of its website, DOGE has repeatedly deleted some of its biggest claims to taxpayer savings. For instance, it reported one $8 billion contract that turned out to be worth only $8 million.

As of March 24, many of the contracts DOGE claims to have cut have no identification in the receipts section, making it difficult to verify what is being cut.

Musk has said DOGE will correct mistakes when it finds them.

WHAT HAS DOGE DONE?

Musk's team has driven cuts in parts of the federal bureaucracy, hollowing out some agencies and sowing panic among much of the government workforce.

To date, DOGE members have entered more than 20 government agencies, gaining access to computer systems that contain personal data of past and present federal workers and millions more Americans.

Through the Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. government's human resources arm, DOGE sent a buyout offer to government workers in February. About 75,000 accepted the offer, according to the White House.

It has fired or sent termination notices to at least 25,000 other government employees, starting with probationary workers, who have fewer legal protections.

The Trump administration on March 24 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block an order by a U.S. District judge for government agencies to reinstate thousands of probationary workers.

In February Trump signed an executive order telling agency heads to work with DOGE to deliver plans by March 13 for “large-scale reductions” in the federal workforce. White House officials are now reviewing the plans, sources told Reuters.

WHICH AGENCIES HAVE BEEN TARGETED?

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides a lifeline to the world's needy, has been shuttered and thousands of its workers sent home.

Another agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans from unscrupulous lenders, has also been shut down. Many CFPB employees received termination notices.

The CFPB has investigated claims about loan policies at Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla, raising questions about conflicts of interest. DOGE has also moved into NASA, an agency where some of Musk's companies have billions of dollars in government contracts.

On March 17, a DOGE team entered the nonprofit and congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace, triggering a lawsuit that claimed the DOGE staffers had entered the building by force after Washington police were called in. The White House accused USIP staffers of defying the president.

Tens of thousands of workers have been targeted for dismissal at federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which provides weather forecasting and climate data; the Social Security Administration, which provides benefits to retirees and the disabled; the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service; and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers benefits and provides medical care for military veterans.

(Reporting by Tim Reid, additional reporting by Alexia Garamfalvi, editing by Ross Colvin)