(WASHINGTON) — Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency group has made swift work of the billionaire’s goal to scale back or dismantle much of the federal government, end diversity policies and otherwise further President Donald Trump’s agenda.
DOGE employees, many of whom have no government experience, have been going through data systems, shutting down DEI programs and in some cases, whole agencies.
As of Feb. 10, ABC has tracked Musk and his DOGE team gaining access to at least 15 federal agencies.
The White House and Republicans have claimed, without citing details, that DOGE is accountable to the president and will be kept away from conflicts of interest. Musk, though, according to lawmakers and attorneys representing federal workers, has violated laws, union agreements and civil service protections.
Trump has repeatedly backed Musk.
“Elon is doing a great job, he’s finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste,” he told reporters on Feb. 7.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has also defended Musk and met with him several times since November.
“It’s very exciting what they’re able to do, because what Elon and the DOGE effort is doing right now is what Congress has been unable to do in recent years because the agencies have hidden some of this from us,” Johnson said after meeting with Musk on Feb. 10.
The speaker gave no examples of the “hidden” costs.
Congressional Democrats have protested outside affected agencies, tried to enter them but were prevented from doing so by DOGE and Trump officials, and attempted to issue a congressional subpoena for Musk but were blocked by Republicans.
At the same time, opponents have had success fighting Musk’s and DOGE’s moves in the courts, with judges stopping some of DOGE’s orders.
Here is some of what’s known about the DOGE efforts since Trump was sworn in, although there has been little transparency about Musk’s efforts.
Federal government workers
On Jan. 8, the administration sent out buyout offers to over 2 million federal workers, including employees in the CIA.
On Feb. 5, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. temporarily blocked the offer and extended the deadline to Feb. 10 following lawsuit filed by federal workers’ unions.
On Feb. 10, O’Toole said his temporary restraining order remains in effect until he issues a ruling on a preliminary injunction, but did not offer any indication of when he might issue that ruling.
NOAA
At least one member of DOGE entered the Department of Commerce — the agency that houses NOAA, the federal agency responsible for forecasting the weather, researching and analyzing climate and weather data and monitoring and tracking extreme weather events like hurricanes. That person was granted access to NOAA’s IT systems, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said on Feb. 5.
DOGE members accessed computer systems to search for staff and data related to diversity programs.
USAID
Musk announced on Feb. 2 that he was going to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is responsible for humanitarian efforts around the globe.
The agency’s website was shut down prior to his announcement, leaving many aid groups and American aid workers abroad in the dark about their programs and future.
A lawsuit was filed on Feb. 6 to prevent the move a day before USAID workers were facing being forced from their jobs. A day later Judge Carl J. Nichols, a Trump-nominated federal judge, announced a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump and DOGE from placing 2,200 employees on administrative leave.
According to current and former USAID officials on Feb. 7, all USAID humanitarian work around the world had been stopped.
FAA
The Department of Transportation and Musk announced on Feb. 5 that he had access to Federal Aviation Administration technologies to make “rapid safety upgrades,” the billionaire said on X.
The next day, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, arguing that it was a “conflict of interest for someone whose company is regulated by the federal government to be involved in anything that affects his personal financial interest, his company or his competitors. ”Musk does business with the FAA, particularly with his space technology company, SpaceX. In September, SpaceX was fined over $600,000 by the FAA for failing to follow license requirements for two rocket launches.
Treasury
The Treasury Department gave Musk and DOGE access to the vast federal payment system responsible for handling trillions of dollars in government expenditures.
However, after two public employee unions and a retiree advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the move, a federal judge ordered on Feb. 5 that read-only data be given to two DOGE employees.
One of those employees was Elez, who resigned from his post a day later.
On Feb. 8, a New York federal judge granted the states suing over DOGE a temporary restraining order that blocked DOGE from accessing taxpayer records, including the Social Security numbers and bank account information of millions of Americans.
Department of Education
DOGE gained access to the Department of Education, which Trump has vowed to dismantle despite such an action needing congressional approval, according to Democratic leaders.
Senate Democrats said on Feb. 7 they launched an investigation into reports that DOGE gained access to federal student loan data.
A federal judge will hear arguments Feb. 10 over efforts by a group of California public university students to block DOGE from accessing the records after the organization representing more than 200,000 students in California’s public universities filed a lawsuit earlier in the day.
CFPB
On Feb. 7, Musk hinted at shutting down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal regulatory agency that enforces financial consumer protection laws. That same day, employees were notified that DOGE staff were entering the agency’s D.C. offices and required “read-only” access to certain applications.
Employees were also instructed “not to perform any work tasks” starting Feb. 10 and the agency’s D.C. offices are expected to be closed all week.
The National Treasury Employees Union filed two lawsuits on Feb. 9 against acting CFPB director Russell Vought in an attempt to challenge DOGE’s takeover and access levels.
CMS
The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) — subset of the Department of Health and Human Services — has also been collaborating with DOGE since Feb. 5, according to a CMS official.
Musk tweeted a Wall Street Journal article reporting this, in which he wrote, “yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening.”
NIH
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley issued a temporary restraining order on Feb. 10 that blocked the National Institutes of Health from taking any steps to implement or enforce a cap on indirect costs.
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