The Trump administration has dissolved the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a contentious federal cost-cutting group previously overseen by Elon Musk, even though the team still had time left on its original mandate.
According to a Reuters report over the weekend, DOGE has been disbanded, bringing an end to the months-long campaign led by Musk and his team—many of whom came from his private companies—to root out alleged government waste and fraud and reduce the federal workforce. DOGE was established through an executive order signed by President Trump in January, with the expectation that the project would last nearly two years.
Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management—which acts as the federal government’s HR department—confirmed that DOGE “no longer exists” as of early November.
Kupor tweeted on Sunday that DOGE “may no longer have a unified leadership” under the U.S. Digital Service, but emphasized that “DOGE’s core values are still very much in place: deregulation, fighting fraud and waste, transforming the federal workforce, and prioritizing efficiency.”
Amy Gleason, who was appointed as DOGE’s acting administrator earlier this year, responded to Kupor’s comments on LinkedIn by sharing a Doge meme captioned, “I’m alive.”
During its operation, DOGE claimed it had saved the government billions by cutting unnecessary spending. However, critics—including some lawmakers—argued that DOGE dismantled federal agencies and programs without providing clear evidence of significant savings.
The closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which delivered humanitarian and disaster assistance, has been linked to numerous global deaths, with DOGE’s budget cuts cited as the cause. DOGE also reportedly accessed federal databases containing sensitive personal data of millions of Americans, and faced allegations of security failures that exposed this information to potential threats.
Musk left DOGE earlier this year after a public dispute with President Trump.
Politico has reported that some former DOGE employees are concerned about possible future federal charges, especially now that Musk is no longer in a position to potentially secure presidential pardons for them.
Reuters notes that several ex-DOGE members have since joined other federal agencies, while some high-profile staffers have left government work altogether. Edward Coristine, known online as “Big Balls,” announced on X in June that he is “officially out” of DOGE.
