The Recruitment Effort That Helped Build Elon Musk’s DOGE Army

The establishment of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) relied on a recruitment campaign carried out, in part, by young software engineers fanning out across online chat groups and Discord servers, according to three sources and chat logs reviewed by WIRED. Some of the engineers are associated with data analytics firm Palantir or its cofounder and board of directors chair—and Musk ally—Peter Thiel.

As DOGE staffers—many of them young and with little or no government experience—continue to gain access to sensitive data across about a dozen government agencies, this is the first look at some of the networks from which the agency has recruited, and who they relied on to enlist talent.

Anthony Jancso, one of three engineers associated with the recruitment effort, is a former Palantir employee. According to sources, Jancso said he was recruited to DOGE by Steve Davis, the Boring Company president and Musk lieutenant whom Bloomberg reported in December was leading recruitment for DOGE.

Jancso is best known for leading a project called Accelerate SF, which aims to leverage AI in the public sector. In a 2023 story about a then upcoming hackathon, VentureBeat reported that Accelerate had received support from companies including OpenAI and Anthropic. In 2024, the venture became known as AccelerateX. Purporting to offer “a modern OS for government,” AccelerateX claims it “transforms government infrastructure with AI-powered automation and software, delivered in days.”

In early December, in another message reviewed by WIRED, a person using the same handle [as Jansco] posted to a chat group for Palantir alumni.

A person using the handle George Cooper followed on.

“Similar to Anthony’s post,” the message read, “I’m also looking to refer people to DOGE…. I’ve always found Palantirians & ex-Palantirians to be the most exceptional people I know, so who better to confront that challenge. Shoot me a DM (or @Anthony ofc) if you’re interested.”

It’s unclear what role, if any, Jancso currently has within DOGE. But one of Accelerate SF’s cofounders, as reported by VentureBeat, is former Waymo software engineer Jordan Wick, who completed undergrad at MIT in 2019 and earned a masters from the school the following year. Wick, according to government records reviewed by WIRED, appears to have a DOGE email account associated with the Executive Office of the President. Two sources tell WIRED that Wick is among the team that has been given access to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau systems and equipment. Wick did not immediately respond to a request from WIRED. Shortly after the email was sent, his online résumé was removed.

On December 5, 2024, around the same time the messages associated with Jancso’s handle were being sent out, a person using the handle Luke Farritor posted a message in a Discord server for SpaceX interns…. Luke Farritor, as WIRED first reported, is a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern and Thiel Fellow now working as a DOGE technologist.