The Department of Government Efficiency plans to continue its work in cutting government spending, with or without Elon Musk at the helm, as more than 100 staffers are expected to remain on the job.
The Tesla/SpaceX/X owner, who became the face of DOGE after President Donald Trump took office, is expected in the upcoming weeks to pull back on his role with the government, while returning his focus to Tesla as its fortunes have fallen and protests have grown over his moves to cut government costs.
But despite his high public profile, most of the cuts made by DOGE were done by the staffers, mostly attorneys and computer programmers, who have spread out across government offices while cutting money and jobs, reports The Wall Street Journal Thursday.
The White House, however, has denied that Musk or DOGE are going anywhere and said he will continue to have a large role with the department.
The Office of Personnel Management has been largely taken over by DOGE, and two major agencies, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, have been dismantled.
Some DOGE officials have also attained key roles in the government, with Jeremy Lewis, who played a major role in dismantling USAID, joining in a senior position for the State Department, and oil executive Tyler Hassen taking a top role at the Interior Department.
Musk had said he planned to slash $1 trillion from the federal budget, but a Wall Street Journal analysis found that federal spending has climbed after Trump took office.
Musk has said he'd continue to work for DOGE as long as Trump wants him, but according to the executive order the president signed on Jan. 20, DOGE was given a termination date of July 4, 2026.
According to another executive order on Feb. 19, DOGE's work is likely to shift away from cutting jobs and focus on chopping regulations.
Meanwhile, Musk's leadership role for DOGE is up in the air. Amy Gleason, a former official with the U.S. Digital Service, which DOGE replaced, is the department's acting administrator but has not appeared to be active in running the group.
Another option could be Steve Davis, who has worked for decades with Musk, but he could also decide to return to the private sector with the tech billionaire.
DOGE and Russell Vought, who runs the Office of Management and Budget, are also expected to continue to work closely together, with Trump's executive orders directing the agencies to coordinate efforts.
Paul Winfree, who served as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council during Trump's first administration, said Vought and the OMB "have a tremendous amount of experience in both the substance of federal policy and the mechanics of how government works," so "pairing that depth of expertise with OMB's policy leverage and DOGE's technological tool kit could amplify the effectiveness of both."