In a recent conversation with Reuters, Scott Kupor, Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), clarified the status of DOGE, stating, “That doesn’t exist.” This marks the first public acknowledgment from the Trump administration regarding the termination of DOGE.
Kupor elaborated that DOGE, once a centralized agency, has been dissolved. The OPM, now handling many of DOGE’s former responsibilities, was established in January and has been actively reshaping federal agencies. Their efforts include budget cuts and reassigning agency roles to align with President Trump’s priorities.
Several former DOGE employees have transitioned to the National Design Studio, a new initiative launched by an executive order from President Trump last August. This studio is led by Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, and is tasked with enhancing the aesthetics of government websites.
Joe Gebbia, previously part of Elon Musk’s DOGE team, now heads the National Design Studio, while former DOGE staff member Edward Coristine, known by the nickname “Big Balls,” has been encouraging others to apply for roles through his social media platform, X.
The dismantling of DOGE contrasts sharply with the previous administration-wide push to promote it, with frequent mentions from President Trump, his advisers, and cabinet members on social media. Elon Musk, who was instrumental in DOGE’s early days, often praised its initiatives on his X account, even using a chainsaw as a metaphor for his drive to reduce government positions.
The fading away of DOGE is in sharp contrast to the government-wide effort over months to draw attention to it, with Trump, his advisers and cabinet secretaries posting about it on social media. Musk, who led DOGE initially, regularly touted its work on his X platform and at one point brandished a chainsaw to advertise his efforts to cut government jobs.
“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” Musk said, holding the tool above his head at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in February.
DOGE claimed to have slashed tens of billions of dollars in expenditures, but it was impossible for outside financial experts to verify that because the unit did not provide detailed public accounting of its work.
“President Trump was given a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government, and he continues to actively deliver on that commitment,” said White House spokeswoman Liz Huston in an email to Reuters.
Trump officials have been signalling DOGE’s demise
Trump administration officials have not openly said that DOGE no longer exists, even after Musk’s public feud with Trump in May. Musk has since left Washington.
Trump and his team have nevertheless signalled its demise in public since this summer, even though the US president signed an executive order earlier in his term decreeing that DOGE would last through July 2026.
In statements to reporters, Trump often talks about DOGE in the past tense. Acting DOGE Administrator Amy Gleason, whose background is in healthcare tech, formally became an adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy in March, according to a court filing, in addition to her role with DOGE. Her public statements have largely focused on her HHS role.
Republican-led states, including Idaho and Florida, meanwhile are creating local entities similar to DOGE.
A government-wide hiring freeze – another hallmark of DOGE – is also over, Kupor said.
Trump on his first day in office barred federal agencies from bringing on new employees, with exceptions for positions his team deemed necessary to enforce immigration laws and protect public safety. He later said DOGE representatives must approve any other exceptions, adding that agencies should hire “no more than one employee for every four” that depart.
“There is no target around reductions” anymore, Kupor said.
Former DOGE employees move on to new roles
DOGE staff have also taken on other roles in the administration. Most prominent is Gebbia, whom Trump tasked with improving the “visual presentation” of government websites.
So far, his design studio has launched websites to recruit law enforcement officers to patrol Washington, DC, and advertise the president’s drug pricing program. Gebbia declined an interview with Reuters via a spokesperson.
Zachary Terrell, part of the DOGE team given access to government health systems in the early days of Trump’s second term, is now chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services. Rachel Riley, who had the same access according to court filings, is now chief of the Office of Naval Research, according to the office’s website.
Jeremy Lewin, who helped Musk and the Trump administration dismantle the US Agency for International Development, now oversees foreign assistance at the State Department, according to the agency’s web site.
Musk shortly after Trump’s election said he had a mandate to “delete the mountain” of government regulations. He made undoing government regulations and remaking the government with AI two key tenets of DOGE, in addition to eliminating federal government jobs.
The administration is still working toward slashing regulations. The White House budget office has tasked Scott Langmack, who was DOGE’s representative at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, with creating custom AI applications to pore through US regulations and determine which ones to eliminate, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Musk, meanwhile, has reappeared in Washington. This week, he attended a White House dinner for Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
