The goal of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk, is to cut government spending.

DOGE agents were deployed throughout federal agencies, where they had access to sensitive systems and information about payments, government employees.

The scope of the department's work as well as the identity of its personnel are not entirely clear, causing chaos within agencies and putting everyone on alert.

Who is DOGE?

A number of Musk-linked figures have been appointed to key positions. Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software, is in charge of the US Treasury Department ’s system that processes trillions of dollars in payments each year.

musk trump bloomberg october 5, 2024
Elon Musk becomes a close advisor to President Donald Trump. Photo: Bloomberg

Amanda Scales, who worked for Musk at xAI, has been named Chief Human Resources Officer at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), essentially the government's human resources department.

Riccardo Biasini, who worked at Tesla and the Boring Company, is a senior adviser to the director at OPM and the point of contact for the new email system used by the Trump administration.

Former Tesla software engineer Thomas Shedd now heads the General Services Administration's (GSA) Technology Transformation Services division, developing technology for the government.

Many of DOGE’s employees are young engineers, including Marko Elez, 25, a Rutgers graduate who previously worked for SpaceX and X. Elez had access to the Treasury Department’s systems. However, he resigned after being caught posting racist comments on social media.

On X, Vice President JD Vance said he disagreed with Elez’s posts but said “stupid” social media activity shouldn’t “ruin a child’s life.” So he’s bringing Elez back.

Other Silicon Valley engineers have also popped up in government agencies, including Gavin Kliger, who worked for Twitter in 2019 and most recently was a senior software engineer at data analytics firm Databricks.

His LinkedIn profile describes him as “special advisor to the director” at OPM.

It’s unclear what the employment status of the DOGE-related employees is, according to NPR. Musk, Krause, and Elez are “special government employees,” according to federal officials. These are temporary positions that allow them to work no more than 130 days a year for the government.

Speaking at the White House, President Trump said he had no concerns about the security of personal information and other data that DOGE had access to. He was “extremely proud of the work that this group of young people” were doing.

The United States Digital Service (USDS) has been renamed “US DOGE Service,” a temporary organization tasked with accelerating the government’s cost-cutting and streamlining agenda.

Mr. Trump directed USDS to improve the quality and efficiency of government software, network infrastructure, and IT systems. To do this, each federal agency plans to establish a DOGE team with at least 4 employees to coordinate with the DOGE Department.

DOGE personnel are also said to have extensive authority over the information and systems they have access to, as the executive order states that USDS “has the right to full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.”

DOGE operates under the direction of President Trump, who has pledged to control any conflicts Musk causes.

(According to NPR)