A diminished DOGE reels from the departure of the ‘Dogefather,' Elon Musk

Washington Post

7 hours ago

Cabinet officials and senior staffers across the Trump administration are reclaiming power from Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service, a trend that began long before the billionaire's relationship with President Donald Trump exploded in public acrimony days after Musk formally left his White House post.
As Musk departed, some of his top lieutenants were streaming out of government. Among those heading for the exits even before Musk and Trump began feuding, according to a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information: longtime aide Steve Davis, who was overseeing cost-cutting efforts; lawyer James Burnham, DOGE's general counsel; and DOGE adviser Katie Miller, who is married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Katie Miller is reportedly taking a job with Musk.
Meanwhile, Cabinet officials — some of whom had clashed with Musk — are moving to rehire workers who had been pushed out by DOGE. And while the group retains some clout, with DOGE staffers moving into permanent jobs in some agencies, unaffiliated political appointees in other departments have been forcing the cost-cutting group to back off.
Despite the exodus, White House officials said the administration remains dedicated to rooting out waste and abuse. The administration has asked Congress to cancel more than $9 billion in spending for global health aid and for public broadcasting in the United States, an early gauge of lawmakers' appetite for codifying DOGE's cuts. And the White House budget office has proposed cutting $163 billion — nearly 25 percent — from agency budgets in the fiscal year that begins in October.
'DOGE is in the DNA of the federal government, and the president is committed to seeing this mission through,' said White House spokesman Harrison Fields. 'No one is under the impression that DOGE is somehow going to disappear.'
White House budget director Russell Vought is expected to pick up where Musk left off in cutting federal spending, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
An architect of Project 2025, a policy blueprint put together between Trump's terms, Vought told a House hearing Wednesday that the Trump administration is eager to send more requests to eliminate previously appropriated funds as DOGE shifts from a consulting role to a position 'far more institutionalized' at OMB.
Still, by DOGE's somewhat haphazard accounting, the initiative has saved only about $180 billion, a fraction of the $2 trillion Musk initially vowed to cut. That performance — along with a general recognition that DOGE created unnecessarily high levels of chaos — has left remaining members of the cost-cutting group facing growing skepticism among agency officials who, after Musk's blowup with Trump on Thursday, no longer need to fear retaliation from the world's richest person.
'DOGE was able to work its will because there was the perception that Musk was so close to the president that these orders were coming from the president,' said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who ran a 'reinventing government' initiative during the Clinton administration. 'Now you've got a different situation.'
At the Federal Aviation Administration, for example, the DOGE team suffered a setback this week when leadership nixed their access to FAA buildings, a command center in Warrenton, Virginia, and the Air Traffic Academy in Oklahoma City, according to an employee briefed on the matter and records obtained by The Washington Post. Four DOGE staffers were also stripped of their credentials and user accounts inside the FAA's internal computer systems, the records show.
As of June 2, the staffers — Brady Glantz, Samuel Smeal, Tom Kiernan and Theodore Malaska, all of whom are employees of Musk's SpaceX — no longer bear the title of 'senior adviser to the administrator' on their online profiles within the agency, per the records. In fact, their profiles no longer show any job title at all — nor an affiliated organization, manager, email or phone number, the records show.
In a briefing Monday, managers explained their removal by noting the team owed its creation and power to an executive order, not an act of Congress — and that Musk was stepping down after his term as a 'special government employee' ended, according to an employee who attended, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
'So they're being pushed out,' the employee said.
DOGE still maintains a strong presence at the agencies that oversee federal spending, real estate and logistics. Its initial areas of focus included the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration, where key allies are still guiding technology modernization efforts.
At some other agencies, DOGE representatives have amassed powerful jobs and portfolios.
In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order granting sweeping new powers to DOGE staffer Tyler Hassen, a former oil executive, The Post reported. Under Burgum's order, Hassen is now leading a campaign to 'create significant efficiencies' and eliminate 'redundant efforts' across Interior, including in IT, human resources, financial management and international affairs.
About a week later, the Energy Department named a DOGE team member, Carl Coe, as chief of staff, a top job that helps decide who has access to the energy secretary, according to an email obtained by The Post. His appointment will help 'tackle the challenge of strengthening and securing the U.S. energy stem and ensuring America can lead the global race for AI leadership,' the email noted.
'The chief of staff is, behind the scenes, the duck paddling under the water making things happen,' said one Energy employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. 'DOGE could control the direction of the agency now.'
Elsewhere, DOGE associates brought on for their reputation as business leaders have exerted command over agency staff, overseeing new initiatives within government. Sam Corcos, a start-up founder, has been overseeing DOGE's work at the IRS, which is increasingly looking to off-load otherwise-monotonous agency work to artificial intelligence programs, according to a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. And Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has been overseeing DOGE's attempts to modernize the federal government's paper-based retirement system, which is run through the Office of Personnel Management.
Gebbia was seen by Musk allies as potentially taking over some of the broader DOGE portfolio when Musk left. But now his fate is unclear, according to a person familiar with ongoing discussions over DOGE's role after Musk's departure.
Resistance to DOGE in other agencies predated Musk's blowup with Trump. In early May, staffers who said they were with DOGE roamed around secure facilities within Navy Air Station Patuxent River, a Defense Department installation in Maryland where test flights and other sensitive work are carried out. One DOGE staffer reportedly walked in behind another government worker to gain access to the building, a Defense employee said — prompting a warning from installation security officials.
'At this time, [Navy Air Systems Command] Security is considering this an unauthorized access attempt,' a security official wrote in email obtained by The Washington Post. The email instructed staffers to report people representing themselves as DOGE staffers to security officials or base police, to refuse to allow anyone to follow them into buildings, and to be on alert for suspicious behavior.
In a statement, a Navy official denied that DOGE's entry into an air station was treated as a security breach. 'DOGE representatives met with NAVAIR personnel … The meeting was scheduled. We have no record of DOGE seeking unauthorized entry into NAVAIR facilities on NAS Patuxent River,' said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. 'Reports to the contrary are unsubstantiated.'
In a move that could eventually infuse DOGE with more power, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled in two emergency decisions that the group could access sensitive Social Security data again, ending a legal restriction that had lasted for months. The court also ordered a judge to narrow a separate order requiring DOGE to submit discovery in a FOIA lawsuit.
James Fishback, CEO of the investment firm Azoria who developed the idea of paying a portion of DOGE's savings directly to American taxpayers, predicted that the group is not dead yet.
'The truth is that Elon set expectations that he relayed to the President, me, and the country that he did not come close to fulfilling,' Fishback said. But 'DOGE's next chapter — under new leadership — will fully deliver on President Trump's mission of cutting waste, looking out for taxpayers, and making government leaner and more accountable.'
Still, as the week wound down, some federal employees took a few moments to celebrate the diminishment of DOGE, however brief. One Interior employee said he and colleagues worked extra-hard, reveling in their government jobs as DOGE seemed to be on the way out. Then he went home and ate some ice cream.
At the FAA, a group of staffers went out for post-work drinks to toast the banishment of DOGE staff.
Then they offered a more solemn toast to the more than two dozen colleagues they'd lost along the way.