Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has infiltrated a myriad of departments within the federal government with an objective to cut wasteful spending.
Democrats have criticized the group’s reach, expressing worry that Musk has too much control over governmental operations.
However, President Donald Trump’s backing of the group, which is expected to be short-lived but effective, has given them wide access to their goal of cutting potential trillions of dollars in spending.
Here’s where we know DOGE is across the federal government.
Veterans Affairs
The Department of Veterans Affairs told the Washington Examiner that DOGE has a one-employee presence within the agency. That employee is “focused on identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations, and strengthening management of the department’s IT projects.”
The person is also “solely focused on improving VA performance and efficiency,” the agency added, saying DOGE does not have access to veterans’ or VA beneficiaries’ data.
“VA looks forward to working with DOGE to improve services to Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors,” said a VA spokesperson.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
When contacted by the Washington Examiner, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services pointed to a statement released last week, in which the agency said it has “two senior Agency veterans” working with DOGE. One is focused on policy and one is focused on operations, and they are “including ensuring appropriate access to CMS systems and technology.”
“We are taking a thoughtful approach to see where there may be opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources in line with meeting the goals of President Trump,” said the statement.
FEMA
The disaster aid agency has been one of Trump’s and DOGE’s biggest targets.
Musk said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was “broken” on Sunday, and he added on Monday that DOGE uncovered $59 million in recent FEMA payments to “luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.” Four employees were later fired.
The agency is also facing a complaint for deleting an LGBT “pride” chat, an action alleged to have violated federal law.
Trump has called for the agency to be “terminated.”
“FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry,” Trump said Tuesday in a social media post. “It is now under review and investigation.”
He then said it should be the states themselves that handle storms and other natural disasters, arguing that would be “far more efficient.”
Department of the Treasury
Trump and DOGE have shown their intent to stop the production of the penny, which would require intervention inside the Treasury Department.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump said. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
The DOGE X account cited that the “penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023” the day after Trump’s inauguration. It also said the penny accounted for around 40% of coins produced.
DOGE’s exact presence in the agency is unclear.
Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a Feb. 22 post on X that he canceled 21 “wasteful DEI and Environmental Justice grants” worth $67 million “with the help of our amazing @DOGE team.”
The contracts included $12.4 million of $16 million promised to the Vermont-based Institute of Sustainable Communities toward a “National Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center.”
More funding canceled included grants for the San Diego State University Foundation to bring “environmental justice” to “underserved” and “tribal, indigenous, and Pacific Island communities.”
“We will make sure every penny spent by EPA goes toward protecting human health and the environment and Powering the Great American Comeback,” Zeldin told the New York Post.
“I am proud to partner with DOGE to restore fiscal responsibility and accountability in our government,” he added.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Several DOGE employees entered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Washington headquarters on Friday to conduct a review of the agency, according to multiple reports. Musk wrote, “CFPB RIP,” on X the same day.
The bureau’s headquarters have since been shuttered, and employees have been asked to work remotely this week. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is the acting director of the bureau.
The DOGE employees appear to have limited access to records and are mainly scrutinizing the agency to ensure it is complying with Trump’s executive orders, including ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Politico also reported that three Musk allies have set up an office in the CFPB.
Vought announced on Saturday that the CFPB would not receive its next round of “unappropriated funding” as this has contributed to the agency’s “unaccountability.”
Department of Defense
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said recently that DOGE would be “welcomed” at the Defense Department.
“So we welcome DOGE at DOD, we will partner with them, and it’s long overdue,” Hegseth said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. “The Defense Department’s got a huge budget, but it needs to be responsible.”
Musk and Trump have expressed their willingness in the past to target the Pentagon’s spending.
Trump said in his Super Bowl interview on Sunday that DOGE would soon be targeting the Defense Department.
USAID
The Trump administration and DOGE have dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development in its current form, with plans to put the agency under the State Department.
Musk previously called USAID a “criminal organization,” and Trump said, “It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out.”
Department of Health and Human Services
DOGE said it canceled millions in government contracts for the Department of Health and Human Services.
“In the past 48 hours, HHS canceled 62 contracts worth $182 million,” DOGE posted Friday on X. “These contracts were entirely for administrative expenses – none touched any healthcare programs. This included terminating a $168,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH Museum.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has yet to be confirmed as secretary of the department, but he has been critical of vaccines in the past, potentially opening spending in those areas up to scrutiny.
His vote in the Senate is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
Office of Personnel Management
Musk ally Amanda Scales, the new chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, formerly worked at xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, the Washington Post reported.
The OPM is key to DOGE’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce as the agency that handles government employees. The organization is handling the government’s 8-month buyout plan that has been offered to most federal employees.
The outlet also reported that some DOGE employees have OPM email addresses.
US Digital Service
The U.S. Digital Service is effectively DOGE at the moment.
Trump issued an executive order to rename the service the “United States DOGE Service.”
The order also said “each Agency Head shall establish within their respective Agencies a DOGE Team of at least four employees, which may include Special Government Employees, hired or assigned within thirty days of the date of this Order” in consultation with the USDS.
General Services Administration
The Washington Post reported that Thomas Shedd, who worked for several years at Musk’s Tesla, was named director of a critical tech unit within the agency.
The agency plans to cut its budget in half and cut many of its staff. It’s unknown if the cuts are prompted by DOGE specifically.
The outlet also reported that some DOGE employees, like OPM, have General Services Administration emails.
DOGE announced on Feb. 21 that they sold the Webster School building in Washington, D.C., for approximately $4.1 million after it had been condemned and remained empty. The building had accrued $24 million “of deferred maintenance and liabilities,” the department said.
Department of Education
DOGE cut around $900 million worth of contracts at the Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences.
The IES is responsible for the National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment, nicknamed the nation’s report card, and the College Scorecard, a database of university costs and outcomes.
Musk’s group said it cut $881 million at the Department of Education and that “one contractor was paid $1.5mm to ‘observe mailing and clerical operations’ at a mail center.”
Federal Aviation Administration
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier this month he spoke with the DOGE team and that it was “going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.” On Monday, members of Musk’s SpaceX team visited the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia to evaluate the current systems.
“America deserves safe, state-of-the-art air travel, and President Trump has ordered that I deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world. To do that, I need advice from the brightest minds in America. I’m asking for help from any high-tech American developer or company that is willing to give back to our country,” Duffy said in a post on X.
Internal Revenue Service
DOGE officials reportedly made their way to the IRS earlier this month, and Trump gave his approval to DOGE looking into the agency last week, saying, “The Internal Revenue Service will be looked at like everybody.”
On Monday, reports swirled that DOGE employees were seeking to access the IRS’s Integrated Data Retrieval System. The system contains personal tax information for millions of people, and later that day, two government employee unions, the Center for Taxpayer Rights and Main Street Alliance, sued to block DOGE from getting access.
The groups argued that DOGE staffers getting access to the data could “endanger the privacy of hundreds of millions of Americans.”
Postal Service
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced in a March 13 letter to congressional leaders that he signed an agreement with DOGE and the General Service Administration to improve the USPS’s efficiency.
“Last night I signed an agreement with the General Services Administration and DOGE representatives to assist us in identifying and achieving further efficiencies. This is an effort aligned with our efforts, as while we have accomplished a great deal, there is much more to be done. We are happy to have others to assist us in our worthwhile cause,” DeJoy said.
DeJoy included several areas he hopes to focus on to improve efficiency, including reviewing mismanagement in the retirement obligations and Workers’ Compensation Program, reviewing mandates underfunded by Congress, and evaluating the “burdensome regulatory requirements restricting normal business practice.”
DeJoy also said the Postal Service plans to reduce its workforce by 10,000 people over the next 30 days via a “Voluntary Early Retirement program.”
Social Security Administration
The SSA has become a target for DOGE to cut waste and fraud in recent weeks, with Trump teasing action regarding the agency last week.
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DOGE employees were also seeking data from the agency as part of their examination of the SSA, which led to one top official resigning over the weekend. Acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Michelle King resigned after several decades at the agency.
Musk said over the weekend that the DOGE team found fraud and abuse at the agency, which manages retirement payments to millions of seniors and others.
