The scope of DOGE’s work and the identities of the people carrying it out isn’t fully clear — leaving agencies in chaos and government workers alarmed.
“One of the reasons we can’t tell what’s going on and what power they have is because they haven’t really made what they’re doing public at all,” said Deborah Pearlstein, a constitutional scholar who directs the program in law and public policy at Princeton University.
Speaking Friday at the White House, Trump said he is not concerned about the security of personal information and other data accessed by DOGE, adding he was “very proud of the job that this group of young people” are doing.
Trump’s order also directs the USDS to “improve the quality and efficiency of government-wide software, network infrastructure, and information technology (IT) systems.”…. The deployment of DOGE staffers and reported actions they have taken within several federal agencies paint a different picture than the expectations of the executive order…. Much of the early work, especially with DOGE-affiliated employees in the Office of Personnel Management, has focused on efforts to reduce the headcount of federal workers, whose salaries typically comprise about 5% of the overall budget, and on cutting programs and priorities that Trump and Musk disagree with, like USAID.
The lawsuits aimed at DOGE came fast.
Within minutes of Trump being sworn in, the first lawsuit against DOGE was filed alleging that the team is illegal, since it gave private individuals roles in government decision-making, though this was before the White House clarified that some DOGE workers are special government employees.
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