The Recruitment Effort That Helped Build Elon Musk's DOGE Army
Vittoria Elliott Tim Marchman Feb 8, 2025 8:01 PM At least three individuals associated with Palantir or its cofounder Peter Thiel were involved in an online recruiting effort for DOGE late last year, WIRED has learned. Photograph:The establishment of Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) relied on a recruitment campaign carried out, in part, by young software engineers fanning out across online chat groups and Discord servers, according to three sources and chat logs reviewed by WIRED. Some of the engineers are associated with data analytics firm Palantir or its cofounder and board of directors chair—and Musk ally—Peter Thiel.
As DOGE staffers—many of them young and with little or no government experience—continue to gain access to sensitive data across about a dozen government agencies, this is the first look at some of the networks from which the agency has recruited, and who they relied on to enlist talent.
In online chat groups linked to Palantir alumni and SpaceX interns, Musk's space company, as well as in a Discord server associated with a military artificial intelligence program, the engineers said they were looking for people willing to spend six months in Washington, DC cutting federal spending—which accounts for around a quarter of the US gross domestic product—by a third.
Anthony Jancso, one of three engineers associated with the recruitment effort, is a former Palantir employee. According to sources, Jancso said he was recruited to DOGE by Steve Davis, the Boring Company president and Musk lieutenant whom Bloomberg reported in December was leading recruitment for DOGE.
Palantir, Jancso, and Davis did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jancso's resume lists him as a 2021 graduate of University College London and as having been a 'forward deployed' software engineer at Palantir between December 2021 and May 2023. Jancso is best known for leading a project called Accelerate SF, which aims to leverage AI in the public sector. In a 2023 story about a then-upcoming hackathon, VentureBeat reported that Accelerate had received support from companies including OpenAI and Anthropic. In 2024, the venture became known as AccelerateX. Purporting to offer 'a modern OS for government,' AccelerateX claims it 'transforms government infrastructure with AI-powered automation and software, delivered in days.'
On November 26, 2024, in a message reviewed by WIRED, a person using a screen name including the name Anthony and the same handle that Jancso uses on his X account posted in a Discord server associated with the Space Force Generative AI Challenge—an 'eight-week combination of AI crash course and problem-solving hack-a-thon that engaged 350-plus participants,' according to its website.
'Helping the Dept. of Government Efficiency team find hardcore engineers,' the message reads. 'Send your GitHub/LinkedIn to @DOGE on X and your X handle to me in DM if you're interested or know someone who is, could help get them into the pipeline.'
In early December, in another message reviewed by WIRED, a person using the same handle posted to a chat group for Palantir alumni.
'Hey all,' the message read. 'I'm helping Elon's team find tech talent for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the new admin. This is a historic opportunity to build an efficient government, and to cut the federal budget by 1/3. If you're interested in playing a role in this mission, please reach out in the next few days.'
A person using the handle George Cooper followed on.
'Similar to Anthony's post,' the message read, 'I'm also looking to refer people to DOGE. Efficiency will always be an exceptionally hard, complex problem and I personally believe we need the brightest people in the world to wrestle with that problem. I've always found Palantirians & ex-Palantirians to be the most exceptional people I know, so who better to confront that challenge. Shoot me a DM (or @Anthony ofc) if you're interested.'
(Reaction to these messages was, a source tells WIRED, 'mixed.')
According to an online resume, George Cooper graduated from Lehigh University in 2019 and has been employed at Palantir as a 'forward deployed' engineer since May 2024, following another stint at the company in a similar role from 2019 to 2023. He did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
It's unclear what role, if any, Jancso currently has within DOGE. But one of Accelerate SF's cofounders, as reported by VentureBeat, is former Waymo software engineer Jordan Wick, who completed undergrad at MIT in 2019 and earned a masters from the school the following year. Wick, according to government records reviewed by WIRED, appears to have a DOGE email account associated with the Executive Office of the President. Two sources tell WIRED that Wick is among the team that has been given access to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) systems and equipment. Wick did not immediately respond to a request from WIRED. Shortly after the email was sent, his online resume was removed.
On December 5, 2024, around the same time the messages associated with Jancso's handle were being sent out, a person using the handle Luke Farritor posted a message in a Discord server for SpaceX interns.
'Hi everyone! I'm recruiting SWEs for Doge. Reach out if interested!' the message reads. 'We are looking for skilled software engineers (and ops people) at any career stage who are willing to work for ~6mo in person in DC. Paid. Tons of really ambitious projects in the works. We are going to fix the government!'
The six-month timeline aligns with the 130 workday limit that special government employees (SGEs) are legally allowed to serve in a single year. Musk himself is currently categorized as an SGE.
Luke Farritor, as WIRED first reported, is a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern and Thiel Fellow now working as a DOGE technologist. Politico has reported that he is now listed as an information engineer in an internal directory at the Department of Energy. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since its establishment by executive order on the first day of Donald Trump's presidency, DOGE has taken over key agencies at the center of the federal government such as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA) and placed operatives in about a dozen agencies with the apparent aim of radically reducing the size of the federal workforce and increasing presidential powers.
Its access to sensitive data and systems has placed DOGE at the center of a growing number of legal battles. Early Saturday morning, a federal judge temporarily barred members of the task force from access to records and the Treasury payment system through which the vast majority of federal spending flows, and ordered records in their possession destroyed immediately. As WIRED has reported, a threat intelligence team at the agency recommended members have access to payment systems revoked and that they be monitored as an 'insider threat.'
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