Elon Musk’s operation to break the federal bureaucracy has been both lightning quick and shrouded in darkness.
Here are some insights, gleaned from 13 written statements filed under oath by Musk’s allies — and the career federal officials working closest with them.
Teams vary in size and scope
DOGE itself is an amorphous project housed in Trump’s White House. But its work has been carried out by teams deployed to federal departments. Those teams include a mix of Musk associates and federal officials detailed to assist them. They ostensibly work for cabinet secretaries but report back to Musk.
Career officials are working to “mitigate risks” posed by DOGE
In several sworn statements to the courts, career officials described extraordinary steps to protect their closely guarded systems from being compromised by DOGE — and they openly acknowledged the risks posed by granting the teams access to databases of federal transactions, student borrowers’ tax information and consumer complaints about banks.
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