What is DOGE and what does it do? An explainer as Trump, Musk make changes

The new Department of Government Efficiency, President Donald Trump’s special commission tasked with slashing federal spending, has formally joined the government whose size it is supposed to help shrink.

Headed by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the department has already made numerous headlines and been at the center of legal proceedings questioning the scope of its access.

So what exactly does the department do and what role will it play?

What is DOGE?

In the parade of executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office was one renaming the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service. It further directed that DOGE be established within the Executive Office of the President.

The Digital Service was created by President Barack Obama in 2014 to modernize the government's approach to technology. Its chief original mission was to fix the many glitches and digital problems that plagued the rollout of HealthCare.gov, the site associated with Obama's signature health care law, which Trump has spent most of his political career bashing.

When he announced the creation of the department in November, Trump said it would “provide advice and guidance from outside of government.”

DOGE was originally headed by Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, but Ramaswamy left DOGE as he mulled a run for governor of Ohio.

What does DOGE do?

DOGE, spearheaded by Musk, has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies and taken drastic actions to cut spending. This includes trying to get rid of thousands of federal workers, shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development and accessing the Treasury Department's enormous payment systems.

Trump appointed Musk to lead DOGE in a push to slash the federal workforce and reduce or end disfavored programs. The administration dismissed probationary employees and Trump in an executive order told agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions.”

Musk said on his social media platform X that “we need to stop government spending like a drunken sailor on fraud & waste or America is gonna go bankrupt. That does mean a lot of grifters will lose their grift and complain loudly about it. Too bad. Deal with it.”

Musk’s team has roamed from agency to agency, tapping into computer systems, digging into budgets and searching for what he calls waste, fraud and abuse. Last week, Musk called for the U.S. to “delete entire agencies” from the federal government as part of his push to radically cut spending and restructure its priorities.

A list of savings provided by the White House last week noted at least $2.2 billion in initial savings identified by the group. The DOGE website has since noted at least $5.6 billion. Any total so far is a tiny fraction of Musk's initial goal of $2 trillion, the size of the federal budget deficit, or even the $1 trillion he has since mentioned more regularly.

Making the new entity part of the government could allow it to more easily access information across agencies. The agency can also potentially do much of its work behind closed doors, even as some regulations on governmental disclosure will persist.

For instance, the Executive Office of the President is generally not subject to many Freedom of Information Act requirements. But it is covered by the Presidential Records Act, which means its records must be maintained.

What has DOGE done so far?

USAID

Since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a sweeping funding freeze has shut down most of the agency’s programs worldwide, and almost all of its workers have been placed on administrative leave or furloughed. Musk and Trump have spoken of eliminating USAID as an independent agency and moving surviving programs under the State Department.

Democratic lawmakers and others call the move illegal without congressional approval.

Earlier this month, at the Washington headquarters for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, yellow police tape blocked access to the lobby and hundreds of employees were locked out of computer systems. Musk said Trump had agreed to let him shutter the agency.

“It’s not an apple with a worm in it, what we have is just a ball of worms,” Musk said of the world's largest provider of humanitarian, development and security assistance. "You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”

GSA

Musk has also turned his attention to the General Services Administration, or GSA, which manages federal government buildings. An email sent last week from the Washington headquarters instructed regional managers to begin terminating leases on roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide.

The initiative is being led by Nicole Hollander, according to an agency employee who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters. Hollander describes herself on LinkedIn as an employee at X, Musk's social media platform.

Treasury information

One of the most significant steps was gaining access to the U.S. Treasury payment system, which is responsible for 1 billion payments per year totaling $5 trillion. It includes sensitive information involving bank accounts and Social Security payments.

It’s unclear what Musk wants to do with the payment system.

Democratic lawmakers have voiced frustration over the lack of transparency and public accountability, saying that Musk's people might illegally withhold payments to suit their political agenda.

The Treasury official said that the ongoing “review” has “not caused payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare to be delayed or re-routed.”

Department of Education

The education department has been in turmoil as Trump sets out to abolish it. The White House is considering an executive order that would tell the education secretary to slash the department as far as possible and urge Congress to fully terminate it. Dozens of employees have been placed on paid leave with little explanation, and workers from DOGE have begun scouring the department's records as they look to slash spending.

Musk’s DOGE team already has gained access to a database housing personal information on millions of students and parents with federal student loans, according to two people with knowledge of the issue.

Among the cuts sought by the DOGE team is an 80% reduction in spending on a contract to manage websites and call center technology that parents and students use for help applying for federal student aid, said two department employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. There are two years remaining on an $824 million contract with information technology services company Accenture for the work.

A federal lawsuit sought to block DOGE’s access to student financial aid systems, saying it violates privacy rights of millions of federal student loan borrowers. It was filed by the advocacy group Student Defense on behalf of the University of California Student Association.

The Education Department said DOGE is helping it return to in-person work, restoring accountability for employees and reforming the hiring process to focus on merit. It said there is “nothing inappropriate or nefarious going on.”

"The DOGE employees are federal employees," the department said in a statement. “They have been sworn in, have the necessary background checks and clearances, and are focused on making the Department more cost-efficient, effective, and accountable to the taxpayers.”

Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration's acting commissioner has stepped down from her role at the agency over Department of Government Efficiency requests to access Social Security recipient information, according to two people familiar with the official's departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Acting Commissioner Michelle King's departure from the agency over the weekend — after more than 30 years of service — was initiated after King refused to provide DOGE staffers at the SSA with access to sensitive information, the people said Monday.

The White House has replaced her as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who currently works at the SSA, the people said.

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields released a statement Monday night saying: “President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner."

Fields added, "President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long.”

IRS

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to troves of sensitive taxpayer data at the IRS, two people familiar with the inner workings of the plan who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly told The Associated Press on Monday.

If successful, Musk and his group would have access to millions of tightly controlled files that include taxpayer information, bank records and other sensitive records. The people who spoke to the AP and requested anonymity said DOGE is specifically seeking to access the IRS’ Integrated Data Retrieval System, which enables employees “to have instantaneous visual access to certain taxpayer accounts,” according to the IRS website.

Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said in an emailed statement that “waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.”

“DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard earned tax dollars on,” he said.

Democratic lawmakers are trying to fight against DOGE plans to access IRS data. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter Monday to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell, demanding copies of any memos that would grant IRS system access to Musk or DOGE. The senators are also seeking justifications for DOGE efforts to inspect tax returns and private bank records.

National Nuclear Security Administration

Three U.S. officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were abruptly laid off late Thursday, with some losing access to email before they'd learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning to find they were locked out. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

One of the hardest hit offices was the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, which saw about 30% of the cuts. Those employees work on reassembling warheads, one of the most sensitive jobs across the nuclear weapons enterprise, with the highest levels of clearance.

The hundreds let go at NNSA were part of a DOGE purge across the Department of Energy that targeted about 2,000 employees.

“The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, referencing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team. “They don’t seem to realize that it’s actually the department of nuclear weapons more than it is the Department of Energy.”

By late Friday night, the agency's acting director, Teresa Robbins, issued a memo rescinding the firings for all but 28 of those hundreds of fired staff members.

“This letter serves as formal notification that the termination decision issued to you on Feb. 13, 2025 has been rescinded, effective immediately,” said the memo, which was obtained by the AP.

Others

According to NBC News, DOGE also has infiltrated the CFPB, been authorized to receive FEMA data and entered various agency headquarters, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Elon Musk's role with DOGE

Musk has been named as a special government employee, which subjects him to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures than other workers. Trump has given Musk office space in the White House complex where he oversees a team of people at the DOGE. The team has been dispersed throughout federal agencies to gather information and deliver edicts.

Republicans defend Musk as simply carrying out Trump’s slash-and-burn campaign promises. Trump made no secret of his desire to put Musk in charge of retooling the federal government.

“Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

The Republican president also played downs concerns about Musk’s conflict of interests as he flexes his power over the bureaucracy even though his businesses face regulatory scrutiny and have federal contracts.

“Where we think there’s a conflict or there’s a problem, we won’t let him go near it, but he has some very good ideas,” Trump said.

Democrats accused Musk of leading a coup from within the government by amassing unaccountable and illegal power.

“We will do everything in our power in the Senate and the House to stop this outrage,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said. “And in the meantime, since we don’t have many Republican colleagues who want to help us, we are doing everything we can with our colleagues through the courts to make sure that we uphold the rule of law.”

Legal battle

A federal judge on Monday questioned the authority of Musk and DOGE, but was skeptical of a request to block the department from accessing sensitive data and firing employees at half a dozen federal agencies.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan held a hearing on a request from 14 states for a temporary restraining order seeking to curtail Musk's power in President Donald Trump's quest to downsize the federal government. Chutkan said she would rule within 24 hours.

Democratic attorneys general from 14 states had filed a lawsuit challenging what they called Musk's “unchecked power.” The states are seeking to block DOGE from firing employees and accessing data at the federal Office of Personnel Management along with six federal agencies that oversee health and human services, education, energy, transportation, labor, and commerce.

The attorneys general argued that Musk's actions at the helm of DOGE can only be taken by a nominated and Senate-confirmed official under the Constitution. They also said citizens have concerns about the secure handling of sensitive information. The federal government countered that DOGE is acting in an advisory role, they don’t need Senate confirmation to access data, and that the states hadn’t shown Musk’s hunt for waste and fraud had harmed them.

“Nowhere have my friends offered a shred of anything, nor could they, to show that Elon Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decision himself,” Justice Department lawyer Harry Graver said.

The judge appeared to question that assertion.

“I think you stretch too far. I disagree with you there,” Chutkan replied but added that was what the merits of the case were about.

While Chutkan seemed skeptical if a temporary restraining order was merited, she seemed sympathetic to some of the states’ claims

“One of the challenges in plaintiff’s motion is that this is essentially a private citizen directing an organization that’s not a federal agency to have access to the entire workings of the federal government, fire, hire, slash, contract, terminate programs all without apparently any congressional oversight,” the judge said in describing the states' claim.

She noted that DOGE doesn’t seem to be moving in any kind of orderly or predictable fashion, making it difficult for states to know what is coming next. Chutkan asked for the Justice Department to submit information about past and upcoming employment terminations.

“DOGE’s actions in this arena have been very unpredictable and scattershot, and I have no idea whether that is by design or simply by virtue of the scope of their remit,” Chutkan said.

Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.