DOGE Has Tried to Embed Beyond the Executive Branch. Some Targets Have Pushed Back

When the Department of Government Efficiency comes calling, it typically starts with an email.

That often includes a request to embed DOGE staffers to learn more about what the agency does and review its inner workings.

In response to a DOGE staffer’s May 13 message asking “to discuss getting a DOGE team assigned to the agency,” the Government Accountability Office’s response was straightforward.

“Today, we sent a letter to the Acting Administrator of DOGE stating that GAO is a legislative branch agency that conducts work for the Congress,” a spokesperson for the watchdog said on Friday. “As such, we are not subject to DOGE or Executive Orders.”

It’s the latest example of how DOGE is attempting to expand its reach beyond high-profile Cabinet agencies, and in some cases beyond the executive branch and the federal government entirely.

NPR has identified close to 40 entities — inside, adjacent to and outside of the government — where DOGE and the Trump administration have turned their attention in recent weeks.

Nearly all of the meetings have been conducted by a small group of young staffers with no federal government experience and little apparent knowledge about what these entities do, according to more than a dozen lawsuits, documents shared with NPR and interviews with employees who were granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly and fear retaliation from the Trump administration.

NPR has identified six DOGE staffers based at the General Services Administration who have been primarily responsible for meeting with these independent organizations: Nate Cavanaugh, Justin Fox, Justin Aimonetti, Jack Stein, Jonathan Mendelson and Marshall Wood.

Recent DOGE meetings have also included a trio of young government novices with finance backgrounds, according to their LinkedIn profiles: Mendelson, most recently an investor at Accel; Stein, most recently an investment banking associate at Salem Partners; and Wood, who was an investment banking associate at Jefferies.

Among the dozens of organizations contacted by DOGE in recent weeks are several privately incorporated nonprofits that were created by Congress and receive federal funding but are not considered government agencies.

That includes the Legal Services Corporation, which funds legal aid for those who can’t afford it, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, which operates under the name NeighborWorks America and provides grants, training, and assistance to community development groups, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides grants to public radio and television stations.