For months, Elon Musk, the world’s richest individual, has been pushing for a division to slash United States authorities spending.
On November 12, President-elect Donald Trump made his want come true and introduced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and failed Republican presidential candidate, would lead the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
DOGE seems to be an outdoor advisory division that can work at the side of the Workplace of Administration and Finances (OMB), a White Home workplace answerable for serving to the sitting president craft funds proposals to carry to Congress. Musk gave the division official authorities credentials on X, the social media platform he owns.
“From every part we’ve heard now, what Elon and Vivek are proposing to do can be one thing just like what the Workplace of Administration and Finances and GAO [Government Accountability Office] does. OMB serves the president particularly to assist handle federal businesses throughout the chief department. Something that goes to the president has to undergo OMB first. Something that comes from the president to different businesses has to undergo OMB first,” a former senior Trump administration official who declined to be named instructed Al Jazeera.
Regardless, it will not be an official cupboard place, which might require the formation of a brand new authorities company, which might require congressional approval. The newest company to be created was the Division of Homeland Safety, which opened its doorways in 2003 within the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, assaults.
What’s DOGE planning on doing?
Musk has promised to chop $2 trillion, or greater than a 3rd, of the US authorities’s annual funds. He mentioned he desires to chop the number of agencies from 428 to 99.
Final week, he shared on X an outdated interview with Milton Friedman through which the economist lists the federal government departments that must be scrapped – agriculture, schooling, commerce – including, “Milton Friedman was the perfect,” a publish that’s being learn as issues Musk wish to do.
Ramaswamy, who will co-lead the workplace, mentioned he desires to chop 75 p.c of the federal authorities workforce. The federal authorities employs roughly 2 million civilians. A 75 p.c discount would imply that 1.5 million individuals can be out of a job, which, consultants mentioned, will strip down a variety of companies from meals stamps to defence spending.
To spice up the hassle, Trump ally and Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been picked to steer a DOGE subcommittee within the Home of Representatives, through which she is to stipulate plans to fireplace authorities workers. The subcommittee has but to be created.
Musk has acknowledged that the transfer would create non permanent hardships however mentioned it’s for long-term prosperity.
“There are numerous questions which are introduced up by his acknowledged objective of streamlining the federal government and by a few of the metrics that he’s put out. [And that’s] earlier than he’s completed any of his preliminary evaluation,” Ann Skeet, senior director of management ethics on the Markkula Middle for Utilized Ethics at Santa Clara College in California, instructed Al Jazeera.
This week, Musk singled out particular authorities workers, questioning their jobs to his 205 million followers on X, The Wall Road Journal reported, a lot of whom then adopted up with tweets concentrating on these individuals.
Musk has oversimplified authorities programmes to make them sound ridiculous and worthy of cuts however has ignored why these programmes exist. He slammed, for example, analysis through which the US authorities spent $4.5m to spray alcoholic rats with bobcat urine. Nevertheless, that is a part of a much bigger analysis examine into the connection between alcoholism and post-traumatic stress dysfunction, a standard difficulty amongst army veterans and one the analysis is looking for remedy for.
Musk’s willingness to make cuts “simply speaks to a vanity that since you’ve been profitable in a single area, that doesn’t imply he could be profitable in one other area”, Skeet mentioned.
Musk and Ramaswamy argued that Trump will be capable to lower authorities jobs unilaterally below a coverage known as Schedule F, an govt order that Trump signed throughout his first time period and by no means went into impact. It might have reclassified civilian civil servants as at will workers who serve on the pleasure of the president, just like a political appointment like a cupboard secretary. It might strip job protections from these workers.
Musk has a protracted document of firing people who find themselves essential to key features of his corporations, together with throughout his takeover of Twitter when he laid off half its workers, a transfer that led to systemic failures throughout the corporate. Because of his selections, the corporate is now valued at 80 p.c lower than when he took it over.
Musk has tweeted that DOGE is seeking to rent individuals with excessive IQs who’re keen to work 80 hours every week for no cash and might want to purchase a subscription to X to use.
Skeet warned {that a} skeleton workers manning the federal authorities “will impression how shoppers will work together with the federal government – whether or not or not airplanes will probably be secure to fly and automobiles will probably be regulated within the right approach and form of simply will individuals get their tax returns on time”.
Musk’s appointment is till July 4, 2026, at the side of the nation’s 250th birthday, in keeping with a Trump group press launch. That can be just a few months earlier than midterm elections.
Conflicts of curiosity
Musk’s appointment comes with vital conflicts of curiosity. He has claimed on X that his companies had been “smothered by forms” and DOGE would deal with that.
Musk’s companies have billions of {dollars} in authorities contracts. SpaceX alone obtained $3.8bn in authorities contracts within the 2024 fiscal 12 months, most of which was work for NASA and the Division of Protection, in keeping with authorities knowledge.
These contracts embody constructing the propulsion methods NASA makes use of whereas one other contract is to make use of Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite tv for pc web service supplier, to first responders throughout climate occasions just like the floods in North Carolina.
Whereas SpaceX has the lion’s share of presidency contracts amongst Musk’s corporations, a few of his different corporations additionally earn cash from the US authorities, together with Tesla.
Within the 2024 fiscal 12 months, Tesla had $6m of presidency contracts. NASA and the Division of Commerce are the biggest awarding businesses for the electrical car big.
“Having anyone who’s a beneficiary of presidency decision-making, you already know, in a job to resolve which elements of presidency to streamline, is anyone who’s essentially conflicted,” Skeet mentioned.
Musk’s conflicts of curiosity don’t simply stem from federal contracts but additionally businesses both investigating or sanctioning him and his companies. Because the co-head of this new company, he can be answerable for developing with monetary coverage selections that would impression their future funding.
One company the place Musk faces fines and investigations is the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, which investigates allegations of union busting and workforce hurt. Musk confronted complaints for his actions within the overhaul of Twitter, together with lawsuits from workers he fired.
Musk additionally faces a grievance lodged by the United Auto Employees union after his interview with then-candidate Trump through which the 2 joked about firing putting staff. That case remains to be open.
The Nationwide Transportation Security Board has pending investigations in opposition to Tesla on its self-driving automobiles, which have been concerned in crashes, together with one which killed a pedestrian in Arizona in 2023.
Musk additionally has conflicts with the Division of Justice (DOJ), which has been attempting to entry all knowledge and data pertaining to Trump’s X account as lately as final month because it investigates Trump’s position within the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Earlier than the November elections, Musk was additionally accused of breaking federal election legal guidelines by the DOJ for a $1m daily giveaway carried out by his political motion committee.
In latest days, Senate Democrats have raised concerns about Musk’s calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin as early as 2022 and his sustained connections with high-level Russian officers, as reported by The Wall Road Journal. They’ve requested the DOJ to find out if Musk must be barred from future involvement in house contracts.
There are different areas of potential conflicts.
Throughout President Joe Biden’s administration, the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) awarded Starlink an $885m contract to supply entry to rural America, however it was later revoked as a result of the FCC didn’t assume Starlink may present the service. Musk slammed the choice as politically biased.
Now Trump has picked Musk ally Brenden Carr to steer the fee. Carr is the highest Republican on the FCC, who disagreed with the choice to disclaim Starlink the contract. He additionally wrote the chapter on the FCC within the conservative coverage playbook for a second Trump time period, Challenge 2025.
The Securities and Change Fee can be a thorn in Musk’s aspect. As lately as September, the company deliberate to sanction him for not exhibiting as much as testify for a second time over his acquisition of Twitter and rejected his proposal to pay a $2,923 nice for lacking the deposition.
However arguably, Musk’s conflicts of curiosity are neither distinctive to him nor are they new to Washington.
Final 12 months, an investigative report from the outlet Insider discovered that 78 members of Congress had not correctly disclosed private monetary trades, which is required by regulation. The regulation is supposed to fight points like insider buying and selling.
Musk didn’t say whether or not he would divest earlier than becoming a member of the federal government or function an outdoor adviser. He additionally didn’t reply to Al Jazeera’s request for clarification.
On the identical time, a few of Trump’s insurance policies may additionally negatively impression Musk.
“From every part that President Trump has mentioned, it appears like he will probably be very powerful on China, which is able to then serve Elon Musk poorly. He will get numerous his supplies that he wants for his completely different corporations from China,” the previous senior Trump administration official who spoke to Al Jazeera mentioned.
Tesla, for instance, reportedly will get roughly 40 p.c of its supplies from China. Trump’s proposed tariffs on the nation might be as excessive as 60 p.c.
In case the tariffs do kick in, “I don’t assume it’s all essentially going to be good for Elon as an adviser,” the official added.
Can Musk truly serve?
Given all of those components, can Musk truly function head of DOGE below his present preparations with Tesla, X and SpaceX?
Ethics consultants steered they need to be disqualifying.
“What’s taking place right here is problematic. Elon Musk has built-in apparent conflicts of curiosity as a result of the businesses that he’s related to have relationships with the very authorities that he’s now going to come back in and attempt to make extra environment friendly,” Skeet mentioned.
Authorized consultants, nonetheless, mentioned it’s a bit extra of an open query.
Advisory committees whether or not for a federal company or the president fall below a particular regulation that requires they make public their actions and conferences so the general public can take part, defined Kedric Payne, vice chairman, basic counsel and senior director of ethics on the Marketing campaign Authorized Middle. However “it’s not clear that [DOGE] will fall below these transparency necessities of the regulation that applies to most advisory committees,” he mentioned.
That regulation known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act and requires that nongovernmental consultants who present federal businesses with recommendation publicly disclose their suggestions. Musk mentioned on X he would do that.
“In most conditions the place an official has a battle of curiosity, there’s a rule that may be enforced to cease that battle of curiosity. On this state of affairs, it’s not clear but whether or not or not there are any guidelines that would prohibit these conflicts,” Payne mentioned.
However with few specifics on how DOGE will probably be arrange, there’s not lots that may be mentioned in regards to the authorized choices, Payne identified.
The Trump transition group, which didn’t reply to Al Jazeera’s request for remark, has publicly mentioned it’s compliant with all legal guidelines.
