# Response to the Department of Government Efficiency

The role of the Department of Government Efficiency within the US federal government, including the extent of its power, is a matter of debate.
The actions of DOGE's de facto leader Elon Musk and his associates have faced criticism, opposition, and lawsuits because of mass firings and perceived conflict of interests with Musk's business empire. Federal judges have been unable to establish clear relationships between Musk, Musk's employees and associates appointed within government, and DOGE, which has been criticized for its poorly defined status.
Journalists have found multi-billion-dollar accounting mistakes in DOGE's "Wall of Receipts" website of claimed savings. Security experts have pointed to national security and cybersecurity risks created by Musk's associates embedded in government. Economic conservatives have complained that Musk and DOGE do not target the biggest government spending sources, but instead pursue a symbolic culture war with little budget impact. Democrats, left-leaning groups and some Republicans have criticized Musk's role and the actions of DOGE as unaccountable and unconstitutional. Some have described the actions as a coup d'état of the US government.
Right-leaning groups, the Republican Party and Donald Trump have defended and supported Musk's actions, arguing they will cut-down on wasteful government spending. They argue the DOGE program is in full compliance with federal law. CEOs of several financial institutions have also spoken in favor of Musk.

## Public opinion

On January 24, the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research published poll results showing that 40% disapprove and about a 33% approve of DOGE, while a majority has an unfavorable opinion of Musk.
On February 23, Axios reports multiple polls showing that a majority of Americans disapproves of DOGE's dissection of the government and of the much power Musk currently gained.
A February 24 poll from Harvard Caps/Harris, of 2,443 American voters, found that 72% of respondents supported the existence of an organization focused on cutting government waste. 60% of respondents also answered that they believed DOGE was helping to make major cuts to federal spending; 58% of voters say DOGE employees should not have access to sensitive information on Americans who benefit from government expenditure programs; including names, social security numbers, addresses, and incomes. A February 2025 poll from Napolitan News Service, of 1,000 American voters, found that 47% of respondents supported DOGE's cuts, 39% were opposed, and 13% were unsure.
On March 2, CBS/YouGov released the results of a survey showing that a minority of Americans believe that DOGE should have a lot of influence over government operations and spending.

## Criticisms

In November 2024, Politico reported on growing concern from the tech world and several policy experts that the project was over-promising or could potentially tear down "much of the essential infrastructure that ushers along American innovation". Former US deputy chief technology officer Jennifer Pahlka stated that while civil service reform was needed, mass firings was the wrong answer. Senior fellow Brian Riedl at the Manhattan Institute said that DOGE's plan to fire 25% of the federal workforce would reduce only 1% of federal funding and require the hiring of contractors to fulfill the difference. The Washington Post cited critics who stated balancing the budget would require higher taxes or cuts to Medicare or Social Security, and DOGE's proposal to slash federal programs that Congress funds but whose authority had lapsed would cut "veterans' health care, initiatives at the State and Justice departments and NASA, and multiple major antipoverty programs". The Post also cited budget experts who said Musk and Ramaswamy's plan "demonstrates the pair's misunderstanding of how the government works".
According to a Washington Post article, an official stated that Musk has a project of replacing the human workforce with artificial intelligence. Computer scientist Bruce Schneier dismissed Musk's alleged project as "techno-fascism by chatbot". By February 6, Punchbowl News reported that "DOGE-curious" Democrats had soured on and distanced themselves from DOGE after seeing how it was being conducted.

### Poorly-defined status

The leadership and membership of DOGE is unclear, as is the role of Elon Musk in government. Judges, journalists, DOGE itself have drawn no clear distinction between Musk's employees, political appointees associated with Musk, and DOGE personnel.
On February 17, Judge Tanya Chutkan asked that Elon Musk's legal status regarding DOGE's actions be clarified. In response, the government stated that Musk "has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself" and that "he is an employee of the White House Office." Journalist Marcy Wheeler views this defense as a way to create retroactive continuity for DOGE. Wheeler also cites Ryan Goodman's evidence of times when Donald Trump and Elon Musk themselves contradicted the government position.
Kedric Payne, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, questions the ethics of Musk's role: "I don’t see a legal way for Musk to lead DOGE in the way that it’s been described and stay in compliance with the ethics rules".
The role of Steve Davis, a longtime associate of Musk, is also unclear. According to Wired, a former staffer at USDS repeated asked managers if Davis was administrator or interim administrator, and was told that the status of Davis within USDS or DOGE was unknown.
Journalists have also noted that DOGE itself is amorphous.The Atlantic called it "a disembodied specter," observing that "much of the cost savings that Musk has touted as DOGE victories on social media have been carried out by other appointees." The New York Times notes that judges in numerous court cases have been unable to establish basic facts about the staff members who have targeted federal agencies: "Attempts to press for specifics, such as how many associates of Mr. Musk have been detailed to specific agencies, whether they have arrived as employees of those agencies or as representatives from the White House, and what grounds they have for demanding entry into agencies’ systems, have been largely unsuccessful."
There is also ambiguity about what actions can be attributed to DOGE. The DOGE X account claimed credit for a $1.9 billion IRS contract rescinded "in connection" with DOGE. The contract was actually cancelled during the Biden administration.

### Auditing blunders

DOGE claimed in its "Wall of Receipts" on its website to have cancelled government contracts totaling about $16 billion. Roughly half of that was attributed to a single $8 billion contract with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement. The New York Times discovered the contract in question was actually only $8 million, making the total dollar amount of cancelled contracts dramatically less than claimed. DOGE has yet to explain the discrepancy. Meanwhile, the Daily Beast notes that other auditing irregularities are resurfacing, including taking credit for contracts already cancelled under the Biden administration. The Times reporting also noted that cancelled contracts are counted towards the Wall's total using the total value of each contract, even if a majority had already been paid by the government and the funds would not be recuperated.
One of the biggest DOGE savings' claims was based on a error. A February 19 X tweet that received 16.4 million views posted by the United States Treasury account, then reposted by DOGE, said that they had saved US$1.9 billion by cancelling a contract, and included a screen shot of the contracting agency code, associated with Centennial Technologies. The company told the Times, that the contract was undertaken and completed in 2024 under the Biden administration and before DOGE was in place.
By February 22, the savings claim had deflated to $7 billion. The Wall Street Journal published an analysis of that claim and found that the savings "could be closer to $2.6 billion over the next year if spending levels remained constant—and about 2% of the funds would have gone to contracts related to DEI." It noticed the disappearance of two contracts from the site due to triple accounting, and observed that a quarter of the contracts published so far were already paid. The U.S. Agency for International Development cuts were mistakenly counted three times, with DOGE reporting it as cuts amounting to US$655 million. This has now been decreased to US$18 million.
The DOGE site had originally posted that the total savings amounted to US$16 billion. By March 3, this numbered had declined to less than US$9 billion.

### Brain drain of government staff

Axios calls the events "Musk's takeover of Washington" and compares them to the events at Twitter, observing concerns about "brain drain" in both cases if highly knowledgeable workers leave. The events were also called a "takeover" by The Economic Times. The Associated Press reported that Musk had "created an alternative power structure" in the government.
During the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing on Internal Revenue Service modernization, Nina Olson, the director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, described the deferred resignation offers as "coerced job cuts and firings" causing "a brain drain" at the IRS.
Tom Nichols assesses that "Musk’s assault on expertise is coming from the same wellspring that has been driving much of the public’s irrational hostility toward experts for years."

### Conflicts of interest

Multiple news agencies have raised questions as to whether Musk's companies being contractors to the federal government causes a conflict of interest with their proposed work in DOGE.
Representative Greg Landsman described DOGE as "a way for the wealthiest person alive, who gets billions in federal money, to hack the federal government data and payment system at the expense of the American people". The National Reconnaissance Office signed a contract in 2021 for $1.8 billion with Musk's SpaceX. Journalist Malika Khurana lists 11 agencies impacted by DOGE with federal investigations or regulatory battles with Elon Musk's businesses. Investigative journalist Eric Lipton uncovered 32 investigations, complaints or enforcement actions into Musk's companies. On February 18, Reuters reported that Food and Drug Administration employees reviewing Musk's company Neuralink were fired by DOGE.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in early February 2025 that Musk would determine if his DOGE work presented a conflict of interest.
During a February 11 press conference featuring Musk and Trump in the Oval Office, Musk responded to a question about his potential conflict of interest by claiming that "all his team's efforts were being made public on DOGE's social media accounts and website." CNN host Anderson Cooper noted that: Musk has shown opposition to transparency by claiming that reporters investigating Musk's DOGE workers were committing crimes; that Musk himself has not made his conflict-of-interest forms public, and the White House says he won't have to; and that the statements issued on the DOGE X social media account are no more than "press releases". Later that same day, Trump fired USAID Inspector General Paul K. Martin, one day after Martin had issued a report finding that $489 million in food was at risk of spoilage because of the Trump administration's efforts to shutter that agency.

### Coup d'état of U.S. government

The "freeze of government function" was described as a coup d'état by Seth Masket, a professor of political science at the University of Denver, because "Musk is a private citizen taking control of established government offices." He notes that Musk has no role in government and questions the validity of DOGE, which is not a federal executive department, assuming power over established government agencies.
Author Jeet Heer argued in The Nation that the actions of DOGE were a "time-honored revolutionary tactic of developing dual power in order to seize control" and constituted a coup. Paul Krugman, an economist and columnist, stated on February 3 that the actions of DOGE might have as of that date constituted "what amounts to a 21st-century coup", and that he would update his opinion later. The Guardian stated that it agreed with Krugman.

### Cruelty and disrespect

After having sent to all federal employees an email (from a misconfigured server) requesting a reply under threat, the American Federation of Government Employees called it "cruel and disrespectful". Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) responded: “Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform. The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn’t it.” Senator Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) qualified the stunt: “This is the ultimate dick boss move from Musk - except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a dick”.

### Economic fragility

Columbia University professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh argues that the DOGE's fire sale of more than 500 government buildings could crash financial securities linked to commercial mortgages.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that, after the USAID freeze, contract lawyers are involved representing farmers selling surplus crops who are worried about future purchases, and business owners who received Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants to invest in renewable energy technology and climate-resistant crops are unsure if they will be paid. Brent Swart, president of the Iowa Soybean Association, says that suspending the USDA puts farmers at risk and jeopardizes programs that demonstrated public returns. Newsweek counted many TikTok accounts posting clips to express their anger or to discuss the link between the USDA freeze and Project 2025.

### Legality

Laurence Tribe, constitutional scholar at Harvard Law School, argues that the power that Musk and DOGE attempt to exercise over federal departments is illegal. He asserts that Musk "absolutely" faces a conflict of interest in his roles as a government contractor and federal employee. Musk's software system takeovers raise "serious issues of privacy" according to Tribe.
Democratic representative Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) has criticized DOGE, calling it "unconstitutional and illegal" in relation to its proposals regarding the impoundment of appropriated funds by Congress. Democratic representative Ro Khanna (CA-17) stated that he was "appalled by the unconstitutional efforts to block funding appropriated and authorized by Congress" and that he relayed those concerns to Musk. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders initially supported plans by Ron Paul and Musk to cut defense spending. He soon opposed DOGE, calling its actions illegal and unconstitutional, and repeatedly criticized Musk.
Elizabeth Popp Berman, Richard H. Price Professor of Organizational Studies at the University of Michigan contends that DOGE could be using the payments system to overrule spending already approved by Congress and use this power for ideological control. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 makes this illegal. How DOGE politicizes an apolitical process increases risks of corruption.
James Sample, constitutional law scholar at Hofstra University, questions the legality of DOGE's power centralization: "Musk manifestly answers only to Trump. Answering only to the President while wielding vast and enormous power is basically the Platonic form of a principal officer, thus requiring Senate confirmation".

### Inefficient culture war

Jessica Riedl, a Republican and Manhattan Institute senior fellow on budget, tax, and economic policy, found that DOGE sought to satisfy Trump's culturally conservative base rather than targeting the biggest government spending sources. Riedl said, "So far, DOGE seems more about looking for symbolic culture war savings than truly reducing the budget deficit in any meaningful way". Alex Nowrasteh, Cato Institute vice president for social and economic policies, echoed the sentiment, describing the cost cuts as "to the federal government, it's nothing".
DOGE has been seen as potentially redundant to the Government Accountability Office.

### Job losses

Conservative actor Zachary Levi, appearing on Fox News, was supportive of DOGE, but directly implored Musk to not terminate or fire federal workers who voted for Donald Trump, saying:"But there are good people, people that voted for Donald Trump who are losing their job. And we got to make sure that we don’t leave those folks behind."

### National security risk created by DOGE

Richard Fourno, assistant director at University of Maryland Baltimore County Cybersecurity Institute, finds DOGE's activities, with little oversight over its employees' operational competence, "create conditions that are ideal for cybersecurity or data privacy incidents that affect the entire nation". James Goldgeier, Professor of International Relations at American University, and Elizabeth N. Saunders, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, argue that "Musk’s activities present a national security nightmare"
Employees from FAA’s National Airspace System Defense Program have been notified of their termination by email from an Outlook address; the program manages long-range detection radars that secure the country’s borders. Some of the fired FAA employees were working on a system announced by the Air Force in 2023 and partially funded by the Defense Department to protect Hawaii from cruise missiles. One fired employee whose position was supposed to be exempt from probationary firings due to the national security-related work he was doing believes he was targeted because of personal Facebook posts he made criticizing Musk's companies X and Tesla.
Hundreds of National Nuclear Security Administration workers have been fired; the administration is trying to hire them back. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it "accidentally" fired "several" employees working on the government's response to the avian flu outbreak and that it will "correct" the situation.

### Unaccountability

Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, called Musk and DOGE's actions "concerning" and "unprecedented". Moynihan worries that Musk and his group, not really public officials, had been able to access sensitive government data, and that Congress had very little ability to monitor and intervene. He also added that "Musk's access to Treasury payment systems could give him undue influence over the federal budget at a time when there is a looming debt-ceiling crisis."
Danielle Citron, Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professor in Law and LawTech Center Co-Director at University of Virginia School of Law, traces the Privacy Act of 1974 back to the commitment to "transparency, accountability, and protections around the collection, use, and sharing of personal data." The Privacy Law prevents any access to the systems of records of an agency without proper vetting and authorization. Citron concludes: "We are bearing witness to the kind of power grab, abuse, and overreach that the Privacy Act of 1974 was passed to prevent".
During a news conference at the Capitol on February 3, 2025, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stated that Musk and his team were breaking the law. Murray stated that Musk was an "unelected, unaccountable billionaire with expansive conflicts of interest, deep ties to China" and accused him of hijacking the nation's financial systems and its ability to pay.
Steve Bannon, a long-time Trump and Republican Party influencer, was extremely critical of Musk's DOGE program, saying "Musk is a parasitic illegal immigrant. He wants to impose his freak experiment and play-act as God without any respect for the country’s history, tradition or values."

### Unrealistic goals

In November 2024, Maya MacGuineas of the public policy organization Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has said that $2 trillion in savings is "absolutely doable" over a period of 10 years, but it would be difficult to do in a single year "without compromising some of the fundamental objectives of the government that are widely agreed upon". Desmond Lachman of the American Enterprise Institute stated that "realistically, there isn't much political willingness to do the tough stuff that [needs] to be done to get the budget under control." Senior director for federal budget policy Bobby Kogan at the Center for American Progress said that $2 trillion in cuts would likely result in 33% cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and every program relating to veterans compensation and healthcare.
In December 2024, Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum compared DOGE to the former Grace Commission which had zero of its 150 proposals enacted. Chief economist Mark Zandi of Moody's said that 30% of the federal budget that is non-discretionary is at the lowest level in modern history as a percentage of GDP, and that even finding $200 billion of savings was highly unlikely. Bobby Kogan said that the "threat level for DOGE's recommendations making it through Congress is relatively low... My threat level for them doing some things illegally, unilaterally, is incredibly high."
In early February 2025, Business Insider estimated that at its actual pace DOGE would cancel around $67 billion in contracts each year. This corresponds to 3% of Musk's original $2 trillion goal. After having reviewed official data, The Economist discovered that Treasury outflows actually increased since DOGE took over. NPR investigated Musk's claim that DOGE is saving taxpayers billions, but could not trace back the contracts allegedly terminated.

### Connection to authoritarianism

The concept of DOGE also echoes earlier proposals like Curtis Yarvin's RAGE (Retire All Government Employees), which advocates for the dismantling or "reboot" of the federal government. Much like DOGE, Yarvin's plan is rooted in a vision of a "radically gutted" government bureaucracy, but it goes even further in calling for the replacement of democracy with a more business-minded, authoritarian system, such as a dictatorship headed by a "CEO Monarch". Yarvin’s ideas, which align with a broader neoreactionary philosophy, have found a significant following among certain conservative circles, with figures like Elon Musk and JD Vance appearing to embrace similar principles. The parallels between RAGE and DOGE raise concerns among critics, who argue that the push to reduce the size of the federal government isn't about efficiency, but rather serves to empower corporate elites and remove internal resistance to unitary executive power, especially from those with more democratic or liberal inclinations.

### Negative impact on Musk's companies

In March 2025 Tesla investor Christopher Tsai criticized how much time Musk was spending at the Department of Government Efficiency arguing that it was coming at the expense of Tesla, Inc.

## Support

Some business leaders supported the idea of the effort in the months before Trump took office. In September 2024, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of the bank JPMorgan Chase, stated that he supported the idea of creating DOGE to improve government competency. In November 2024, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of cryptocurrency vendor Coinbase, spoke in support of the idea of DOGE.
On January 10, 2025, Republican state governors wrote a joint letter to leaders of Congress expressing "overwhelming support" for DOGE and that they "stand ready to help DOGE—and Congress—be successful".
Many Republicans are supportive of DOGE's efforts to cut the budget. Some Republicans are concerned about DOGE, because its actions negatively impact their home states or are performed without transparency.

### "Men in MAGA hats" and possible fraud

On February 14, 2025, three men wearing shirts that referenced DOGE attempted to gather information they claimed would be related to alleged wasteful spending and fraud from offices in San Francisco City Hall. The men brought flash drives to copy the records and entered public and private spaces through unlocked doors in the building. A building manager later announced that, "They did not present a judicial warrant, and therefore, had no authority to access computers or non public spaces." Employees refused to hand over any information and called the San Francisco Sheriff's Office, but by the time authorities arrived, the unidentified agents had fled the building. DOGE has not confirmed that the agents were with them, and the San Francisco Sheriff's Office believes that they were not.

## Mobilization
### Protests

Protestors appeared at Tesla showrooms in numerous cities in the US in February. One of the larger was outside Tesla's Manhattan showroom, where protestors could be heard chanting "Elon Musk can go to Mars; we don't need your Nazi cars" referring to the Elon Musk salute controversy and Musk's support for Alternative for Germany. Protests also took place in San Francisco, Berkeley, Minneapolis, and Kansas City among others. Musician Sheryl Crow posted to social media a video showing a flatbed truck removing a Tesla she had sold in protest.
In early February, employees at the Technology Transformation Services, a technology office within the General Services Administration, protested against Trump appointee Thomas Shedd during an internal meeting where he was encouraging staff to consider the deferred resignation program. Employees flooded the video conferencing chat with spoon emojis in opposition to Shedd, Musk and DOGE. Spoons were chosen in light of the initial email about the deferred resignation program, titled "Fork in the Road".
On February 3, protesters gathered outside the Office of Personnel Management and indicated that they would continue to protest for the rest of the week in opposition to DOGE and Musk. The protestors claimed that Musk had illegally taken control of the government's infrastructure, and raised concerns that Musk was an unelected foreign national who was potentially stealing sensitive information stored in federal servers.
A rally was organized in front of the Treasury Department the next day via word of mouth and social media, with initially 50 participants that grew into hundreds. Participants included federal workers, retirees and others who were alarmed and angry over Musk and DOGE's actions and its trajectory, chanting "Elon Musk has to go" and signs reading "No Trump, No Musk, No Fascist USA" and "Musk owns Trump". Democratic politicians such as Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Representative Maxine Waters spoke out at the protest.
Federal workers continued to protest at Tesla showrooms in February. Hundreds appeared at a San Francisco showroom on February 19. Workers included Hai Binh Nguyen, who lamented the halting of her work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau where she takes action against unfair business practices. Protestors also expressed concerns that government services would be privatized and sold off to billionaires.
As of February 17, 2025, protests against DOGE at the United States Capitol are ongoing.

### r/FedNews Reddit resistance

Within one week of DOGE's mass layoff plan, the subreddit r/FedNews became a central hub for information sharing by federal government employees of DOGE actions and DOGE actors, and organizing resistance against the Trump administration. The subreddit gained 250,000 members between the 2024 United States presidential election and February 7, 2025, and entered the top 1% of subreddits by subscriber count.
The subreddit states that it is unaffiliated with and not endorsed by the United States government. The subreddit describes itself as "a secure space for United States Federal Government employees to express their opinions, share experiences, and discuss news and information pertinent to their employment." Right-wing social media influencers have been critical of it, with unproven allegations of federal employees using Reddit while on duty.

### U.S. Digital Service resignations from within DOGE

On February 25, 21 USDS engineers, data scientists and product managers working as part of DOGE resigned in protest of DOGE's actions. In an official letter addressed to Susan Wiles, they write: "We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public service. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions." The USDS is part of the DOGE structure by executive order.

### Political involvement

On February 25, Politico reports that "Early interest in running for office is already beginning to rise — at least one major candidate recruitment organization saw a sharp spike of more than 2,000 new applications pouring in as Musk issued major actions pushing federal workers out."

### Letters

On February 25, the Union of Concerned Scientists delivered a letter signed by more than 2,500 scientists urging Congress and the Trump administration to protect NOAA.

### Websites and other

On March 1, all the employees of 18F received notice that their positions had been eliminated. In response, the employees launched a website to explain how ill-advised was this DOGE decision.
On February 24, 2025, public televisions and monitors in United States Department of Housing and Urban Development offices displayed an artificial intelligence-generated video of President Donald Trump performing fetishistic foot worship upon Elon Musk, with the text "Long live the real king", in reference to Trump declaring himself king days prior.