White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is pushing back on speculation that Amy Gleason was only recently named administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, the temporary organization that has become synonymous with Elon Musk’s attempts to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.
“Amy Gleason has been the DOGE administrator for quite some time, I believe several weeks, maybe a month,” Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday outside the West Wing. “I’m not actually sure of the specific timeline. She’s a career official. She’s doing her job as the administrator of this organization.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Leavitt resisted persistent questioning from reporters during Tuesday’s briefing regarding who was leading DOGE, formerly the U.S. Digital Service before the start of President Donald Trump‘s second term.
But shortly afterward, a White House official confirmed to the Washington Examiner first that Gleason was DOGE’s head, though when her name was announced, Gleason was abroad in Mexico and declined further comment.
Gleason has been a senior adviser to the U.S. Digital Service, the organization that the Trump administration transformed into DOGE, since January, according to her LinkedIn profile. She earlier served as a digital services expert for the USDS during Trump’s first administration from 2018 to 2021. But uncertainty continues to shroud her role and authority, aside from reports her responsibilities now include spearheading endeavors to modernize data and IT at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Questions related to the DOGE administrator began after a Monday exchange between government lawyers and Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly at a hearing with respect to DOGE’s access to Treasury Department sensitive payment systems. When asked by the judge if DOGE currently has an administrator, Justice Department trial counsel Bradley Humphreys responded, “I don’t know the answer to that.”
Those questions became more important last weekend after federal employees received emails asking them to report five tasks they completed last week or risk being terminated. Department and agency leaders, such as FBI Director Kash Patel, told their personnel not to respond to the note. Employees complained that they should not have to report to someone outside of their chain of command.
On Wednesday, Leavitt criticized news coverage for being overly concerned with Gleason’s identity, contending that “there’s a lot of people who work for the federal government” who are “just trying to do their jobs.”
WHAT IS DOGE? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY
After Gleason’s name was emerged, DOGE aides told reporters they did not realize she was in charge. Meanwhile, Democrats have alleged she is being used as a figurehead amid mounting legal challenges against DOGE.
“Everybody knew,” Leavitt said. “We said who she was to all of you because you are hounds in the media who are so obsessed with this for some reason. So in the effort of transparency, we told you who that person is. There are so many bigger things in the world than who the DOGE administrator is. But for some reason, everybody in the press corps is so obsessed with this that you were incessantly asking. So we thought, OK, we will be transparent. So now you know who it is.”
