Latest news with #DOGE-related
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
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. What's Next For Doge After Elon Musk's Departure? 'Only Just Begun' 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. Read On The Fox News App "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." White House Discloses Who Will Lead Doge Efforts After Musk's Departure 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 article source: State Dept says DOGE's changes will be permanent amid Musk's departure
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Obama-nominated judge allows lawsuit targeting Musk's role with DOGE to proceed, drops claims against Trump
An Obama-appointed federal judge has largely rejected the Trump administration's request for the dismissal of a DOGE-related legal challenge, though she did dismiss President Donald Trump as a defendant, while otherwise allowing the wranglings to proceed. "Defendants seek to dismiss President Trump as a defendant because the court may not enjoin the President in the performance of his official duties," a memorandum opinion notes, adding, "The court agrees." The memorandum opinion and order are signed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Elon Musk 'Disappointed' By Trump's Spending Bill, Says It Undermines What Doge Is Doing "Defendants' motion to dismiss Count I against President Donald J. Trump, in his official capacity as President of the United States, is GRANTED. Defendants' motion to dismiss Count I against all other defendants and Count II is DENIED," the order declares. In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Justice Department spokesperson said, "This Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump's ability to conduct official duties and will continue to do so whenever those actions are challenged in federal court." Read On The Fox News App Desantis Goads Congress To Follow Fl's Doge Blueprint As Musk's Cuts Still Wait For Vote More than a dozen states lodged a legal challenge regarding Elon Musk's work on Trump's DOGE cost-cutting initiative earlier this year. "This Court should restore constitutional order and, consistent with the Appointments Clause, enjoin Mr. Musk from issuing orders to any person in the Executive Branch outside of DOGE and otherwise engaging in the actions of an officer of the United States, and declare that his actions to date are ultra vires and of no legal effect," the complaint filed in February declared. Spacex's Starship Flight 9 Ends In Failure After Booster Loss: 'Success Comes From What We Learn' After heavily focusing on the effort, Musk later noted that he planned to reduce how much time he spends on it. Last week he declared in a tweet, "Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms," noting that he needed to focus on various business endeavors. "The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized," he noted on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. "I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least."Original article source: Obama-nominated judge allows lawsuit targeting Musk's role with DOGE to proceed, drops claims against Trump
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Are Elon Musk's DOGE days over? Tesla boss now wants to work '24/7' at his companies' after massive X outage
A major global outage at social media platform X may have pushed Elon Musk to the brink. Following the disruption, the billionaire CEO of Tesla , SpaceX , xAI, and X declared he's returning to a relentless "24/7" work schedule across his companies. The platform experienced a massive outage on Saturday, affecting tens of thousands of users globally, including in the United States, Germany, Spain, France, India, Canada, Australia, and Britain. According to outage tracking site Downdetector, user reports peaked at over 25,800 incidents around 8:51 a.m. ET, before dropping below 650 by midday. Reacting to the disruption, Musk posted on X: "Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms. I must be super focused on X, xAI, and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Girls Show Their Perfect Figure In These Sport Photos Take At Perfect Time True Edition Undo While X has yet to issue an official statement, the outage has amplified concerns over Musk's divided attention across his sprawling tech empire. From DOGE to Damage Control? Musk, who had previously spent significant time engaging with Dogecoin (DOGE) and meme-driven internet culture, signaled a shift last month. To reassure worried Tesla investors, he said he would scale back his DOGE-related activities to just a day or two per week starting in May. Live Events Now, with rising investor unease and operational hiccups like the X outage, Musk seems intent on projecting focus and discipline. Adding to the pivot, Musk recently said he would substantially cut political donations, including the nearly $300 million he reportedly funneled into support for Donald Trump and other Republican candidates last year. His political activity has sparked boycotts and protests, especially across Europe and parts of the U.S., contributing to Tesla's first annual delivery decline in 2024. He also spearheaded the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency, a controversial initiative aimed at slashing public sector jobs and cutting major contracts, which drew further public scrutiny.
USA Today
21-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Top nuke officials admit staffing challenges after DOGE layoffs, hiring freeze
Top nuke officials admit staffing challenges after DOGE layoffs, hiring freeze Testifying to a Senate committee, National Nuclear Security Administration leaders acknowledged staffing woes after DOGE-led reductions. Show Caption Hide Caption Explaining the NNSA, latest agency hit by DOGE cuts The NNSA within the Department of Energy is tasked with ensuring the nation's nuclear arsenal is safe and secure, but it isn't safe from DOGE cuts. During May 20 testimony, top acting officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration acknowledged the risk and impact of workforce vacancies caused by Elon Musk's DOGE. A USA TODAY investigation published May 18 detailed the potential impact of endemic federal staffing shortages at NNSA recently exacerbated by the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce. WASHINGTON − Top leaders of the agency responsible for the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile admitted to DOGE-related staffing challenges at a Senate hearing. Asked by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, if a hiring freeze, resignations and attrition could bring 'some pretty important vacancies,' acting National Nuclear Security Agency defense programs head David Hoagland said, 'That's very true.' Hoagland said at the May 20 hearing that his office had "shifted people around" to meet "critical needs." Hundreds of NNSA staff were fired by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year, amid a $1.7 trillion nuclear weapons upgrade, in a chaotic wave of layoffs. Most were later rehired. Other critical staffers agreed to leave their jobs under DOGE's "fork in the road" resignation offer. More: Nuclear weapons woes: Understaffed nuke agency hit by DOGE and safety worries King said NNSA claims that staffing shortages hadn't placed agency's mission at short term risk "strikes me as implausible." The NNSA struggled with staffing and talent pipeline issues for decades before the new Trump administration, a recent USA TODAY investigation found. Then Musk launched efforts to reduce the federal workforce, which further destabilized the NNSA workforce, experts said. The agency currently faces a near-total hiring freeze and lost more than 130 of its 2,000 federal employees to the DOGE deferred resignation program. More than 300 more employees were fired and reinstated in February damaging morale. NNSA's acting principal deputy administrator, James McConnell, said told senators on a subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee the agency could handle the losses 'in the short term,' but he said the NNSA needs to 'make sure that our resources are adequate.' Experts told USA TODAY sustained staffing shortages could cause further delays and cost overruns on the agency's beleaguered portions of the nation's broader $1.7 trillion nuclear arsenal modernization effort. USA TODAY documented billions of dollars in overruns, as well as safety issues, at NNSA facilities that were attributed to staffing shortages. More: Musk aides got accounts on classified system with US nuclear secrets: sources Marv Adams, Hoagland's Senate-confirmed predecessor atop NNSA's defense programs, said in an interview that during his tenure, "our federal [warhead] program offices struggled to keep up and not get behind because of understaffing." The agency's field offices faced similar strain, according to David Bowman, a retired civil servant and former manager of the NNSA's Nevada Field Office. From 2020 until his retirement in the fall of 2024, Bowman oversaw operations at the expansive Nevada National Security Site. NNSA field offices must review and approve much of the work the agency's massive contractor workforce does on the nuclear arsenal, as well as safety management plans. In an interview, Bowman said such review "requires ... technical experts who are feds." More: Trump nukes nominee questioned on DOGE cuts, nuclear weapons testing "If the field offices or the safety experts are short staffed, the work is going to back up," he said. Bowman described finding qualified staff for his far-flung office northwest of Las Vegas as "the big challenge we had." Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY If you're a current or former NNSA employee willing to inform USA TODAY's coverage of the agency, please contact Davis Winkie via email at dwinkie@ or via the Signal encrypted messaging app at 770-539-3257. Davis Winkie's role covering nuclear threats and national security at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
USA Today
21-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block lower court's review of FOIA rules for Musk's DOGE
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block lower court's review of FOIA rules for Musk's DOGE The Trump administration wants to prevent DOGE from turning over records to a federal court. Show Caption Hide Caption Musk to shift focus from DOGE to Tesla after profits plunge Elon Musk told investors he will refocus on Tesla and begin scaling back his involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in May. unbranded - Newsworthy WASHINGTON − The Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to intervene in its fight to prevent DOGE from being subject to open records laws. In an emergency request filed on May 21, the Justice Department asked to pause judicial orders requiring DOGE produce documents and testimony so a federal court can determine whether the Department of Government Efficiency started by Elon Musk must comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The administration argues DOGE is a presidential advisory body so is exempt from the nation's premier public disclosure law. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, is suing DOGE, arguing it's provided "no meaningful transparency into its operations or assurances that it is maintaining proper records." This is not the first DOGE-related request to reach the Supreme Court. The Trump administration has also asked the justices to let DOGE have personnel access to the data of millions of Americans kept by the U.S. Social Security Administration.
