A group of unpaid billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take unofficial positions in the US government in the name of cutting costs.
As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency gears up for battle against “wasteful” spending, he is preparing to send individuals with ties to his co-leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, in agencies across the federal government. .
After Inauguration Day, the group of wide-eyed recruits bent from Silicon Valley will be placed in the alphabet soup of Washington agencies. The goal is for most major agencies to eventually have two DOGE representatives as they seek to cut costs as Mr. Musk did at X, his social media platform.
This story is based on interviews with approximately a dozen people with knowledge of DOGE’s operations. They spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
On the eve of Mr. Trump’s presidency, the DOGE structure is still amorphous and tightly held. People involved in the operation say secrecy and avoiding leaks is paramount and most of his communication is done on Signal, the encrypted messaging app.
Mr Trump has said the effort would prompt “drastic changes” and that the entity would offer outside advice on how to cut wasteful spending. DOGE itself will not have the power to cut spending—that authority rests with Congress. Instead, it is expected to offer recommendations for other programs and areas that should be cut.
But some parts of the operation are becoming clear: Many of the executives involved expect to complete six-month volunteer stints within the federal government before returning to their high-paying jobs. Mr Musk has said they will not be paid – a non-starter for some initially interested tech executives – and required to work 80 hours a week. Some, possibly including Mr. Musk, will be so-called special government employees, a specific category of temporary workers who can only work for the federal government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period.
Representatives will be located primarily within federal agencies. After some consideration by senior officials, DOGE itself is now unlikely to be incorporated as an outside organized or non-profit entity. Instead, it likely exists more as a brand for an interconnected group of aspiring leaders who are in common group conversations and share an allegiance to Mr. Musk or Mr. Ramaswamy.
The cynics among us will say, ‘Oh, it’s naive billionaires getting into trouble.’ But the flip side is that this is a service to the nation that we saw more typically around the founding of the nation,” said Trevor Traina, an entrepreneur who worked in the first Trump administration with associates who have considered joining DOGE .
“The friends I know have big lives,” said Mr. Traina, “and they’re agreeing to work for free for six months and leave their families and roll up their sleeves in an effort to really turn things around. You can look at it either way.”
DOGE leaders have told others that the handful of people not detailed to the agencies will be housed within the Executive Office of the President at the U.S. Digital Service, which was created in 2014 by former President Barack Obama to “change the approach of our government to technology”.
DOGE is also expected to have an office in the Office of Management and Budget, and officials have also considered establishing a non-government research institute in the future.
Friends of Mr. Musk are closely involved in the selection of people to be sent to various agencies. Those who have conducted interviews for DOGE include Silicon Valley investors Marc Andreessen, Shaun Maguire, Baris Akis and others with a personal connection to Mr. Musk. Some who have received the Thiel Fellowship, a prestigious grant funded by Mr. Thiel awarded to those who promise to transfer or drop out of college to become entrepreneurs, are involved in programming and operations for DOGE. Mediation of a presentation for Mr. Musk or Mr. Ramaswamy, or their inner circles, has been a key way for leaders to be selected for deployment.
That’s how Loom co-founder Vinay Hiremath said he got involved with DOGE in a rare public statement from someone who worked with the entity. In a post this month on his personal blog, Mr. Hiremath described the work DOGE employees did before he decided not to move to Washington to join the entity.
“After 8 calls with people who all spoke fast and seemed very smart, I was added to a number of Signal groups and immediately got to work,” he wrote. “The next 4 weeks of my life consisted of 100 phone calls recruiting the smartest people I’ve ever talked to, working on various projects that I definitely can’t talk about, and learning how completely dysfunctional the government was . It was a blast.”
These recruits are assigned to specific agencies where they are thought to have expertise. Some other DOGE registrants have come to the attention of Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy via X. In recent weeks, the DOGE account on X has been posting requests to recruit a “very small number” of full-time positions for engineers and assistants—the office functions as human resources.
The DOGE team, including those paid engineers, is working primarily in a glass building at SpaceX’s downtown office located a few blocks from the White House. Some people close to Mr. Ramaswamy and Mr. Musk hopes these DOGE engineers can use artificial intelligence to find opportunities to cut costs.
The broader effort is being led by two people from completely different backgrounds: one is Brad Smith, a health care entrepreneur and former top health official in Mr. Trump’s first White House, who is close to Jared Kushner , Mr. Trump’s son-in-law. . Mr. Smith has effectively led DOGE during the transition period, with a particular focus on recruitment, particularly for workers who will be joining the agency.
Mr. Smith has worked closely with Steve Davis, an associate of Mr. Musk for two decades, who is widely seen as working as Mr. Musk’s proxy on all things. Mr. Davis has joined Mr. Musk as he calls experts with questions about the federal budget, for example.
Other people involved include Matt Luby, Mr. Ramaswamy’s chief of staff and childhood friend; Joanna Wischer, a Trump campaign official; and Rachel Riley, a McKinsey partner who works closely with Mr. Smith.
Mr. Musk’s personal adviser – Chris Gober – and Mr. Ramaswamy’s personal lawyer – Steve Roberts – have been exploring various legal issues related to DOGE’s structure. James Burnham, a former Justice Department official, is also assisting DOGE with legal matters. Bill McGinley, Mr. Trump’s initial choice for White House counsel, who was instead appointed as legal counsel to DOGE, has played a more minimal role.
“DOGE will be a cornerstone of the new administration, helping President Trump deliver on his vision for a new golden age,” said James Fishback, founder of Azoria, an investment firm and confidant of Mr. Ramaswamy. who will provide external advice to DOGE.
Despite all this firepower, many budget experts have been deeply skeptical about her cost-cutting efforts and ambitions. Mr. Musk initially said the effort could result in “at least $2 trillion” in cuts from the $6.75 trillion federal budget. But budget experts say that goal would be difficult to achieve without cutting popular programs like Social Security and Medicare, which Mr. Trump has promised not to cut.
Both Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy have also redefined what success can mean. Mr. Ramaswamy highlighted DOGE-led deregulation in X last month, saying deregulation can stimulate the economy and that “the success of DOGE cannot be measured by deficit reduction alone.”
And in an interview last week with Mark Penn, the chairman and chief executive of Stagwell, a marketing company, Mr. Musk downplayed the total potential savings.
“We’re going to try for $2 trillion — I think that’s the best outcome,” Mr. Musk said. “You have to have some excess. I think if we try for two trillion, we have a good chance of getting one.”
