State Dept says DOGE's changes will be permanent amid Musk's departure
Elon Musk may no longer be the top dog at DOGE, but his reforms at the State Department will remain permanently in place, a senior agency official told Fox News Digital Thursday.
As Musk's 130-day mandate as a "special government employee" comes to an end, the billionaire entrepreneur announced his departure from DOGE in a post on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday night.
During Musk's time as the head of DOGE, he helped usher in big reforms at the State Department, which included an effective dismantlement of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), staff reductions, and the cancellation of various foreign aid programs due to lack of oversight, inefficiency, and other reasons.
The indication that Musk's DOGE-related work at the State Department will continue was reinforced by a new reorganization effort at the Department of State announced by Secretary Marco Rubio on Thursday. The new reorganization plans are expected to cut or consolidate more than 300 of the State Department's offices and bureaus as part of a massive overhaul aimed at streamlining the department, according to agency officials.
The agency currently has about 700 offices, meaning the reorganization effort will slash, or join, more than 40% of its offices.
"We have too many godd--- offices," a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital. "We're trying to shrink offices rather than create them."
The State Department submitted a notice to Congress Thursday disclosing plans for the reorganization overhaul, which senior State Department officials said will be the largest restructuring for the agency since the Cold War.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added Thursday that many DOGE employees will remain part of the Trump administration, despite Musk winding down his work.
"Surely the mission of Doge will continue," Leavitt told reporters Thursday. "Many Doge employees are now political employees."
One of Musk's DOGE associates, Jeremy Lewin, has recently been tapped for a top role within the State Department. In April, he was placed at State for a different role. For his part, Lewin, however, disputes that he ever did any direct work for Musk's DOGE.
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