Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk defended the work of the Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday, calling the group he oversees "tech support."
Musk appeared at the first meeting of President Donald Trump's cabinet days after an email by the Office of Management Personnel was sent to all federal employees requiring them to list five things they accomplished last week. If they did not reply, it would be considered their "resignation."
The email, which was widely criticized, was meant as a "pulse check review" but had been "misinterpreted as a performance review" Musk said.
"If you have two neurons, you could reply to this email," Musk said. "We are literally trying to figure out, are these people alive, are they dead, and can they write an email, which I think is a reasonable expectation."
Musk attended the meeting wearing a back MAGA hat and a black T-shirt with "Tech Support" written on it.
DOGE is about "helping fix the government computer systems," Musk said. "So, we are actually tech support — it's ironic but it's true. We simply cannot sustain as a country $2 trillion deficits. Just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department's spending. … If this continues, the country will become de facto bankrupt.
"DOGE is a support function for the president and for the agencies and departments to help achieve those savings and find 15% in reduction in fraud and waste."
Musk conceded DOGE would make mistakes, such as freezing funding at the U.S. Agency for International Development for Ebola prevention but noted they would fix their errors quickly. The funding was restored with "no interruption," Musk said.