Elon Musk says he wants to double the DOGE team’s head count

Elon Musk has helmed the Trump administration's push for government efficiency. He now wants to double the number of people working at DOGE.

Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS

• Elon Musk says the DOGE team has over 100 people on staff now.
• But his team is going to "get to 200," Musk said.
• He added that DOGE mainly hired from the software, information security, and finance sectors.

The Department of Government Efficiency has recommended firing hundreds of government employees — but the team itself is staffing up.

Elon Musk, who helms DOGE's push for head count cuts across the federal government, spoke to Fox Business host Larry Kudlow in an interview that aired on Monday. During the segment, Musk said the DOGE team now has "a little over 100" employees.

Musk added that his team was going to "get to 200."

Musk, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, said DOGE intends to hire people from the software, information security, and finance industries.

"It's basically, yeah, finance and technology," he said.

Musk told Kudlow in the same interview that it hasn't been easy working on DOGE alongside his other businesses like Tesla and SpaceX.

"With great difficulty," Musk said when asked how he was running his companies.

"I'm just here trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud, and so far, we're making good progress, actually," Musk said.

DOGE's team already includes software developers, former Supreme Court clerks, and ex-consultants, per White House records of about 30 employees previously obtained by Business Insider.

The records show that a good portion of these people — at least two dozen — are in their 20s to 30s.

Most of the employees in those records had backgrounds in tech, with others in finance, law, and politics.

Several of the agency's more senior workers and advisors worked under the Trump administration during his first term, such as Brad Smith, a former health official who helped DOGE with staffing.

Since Trump took office in January, DOGE has been asked to recommend cuts to the federal government to make it more efficient.

The agency is still in its early months but has estimated that it has helped to save $105 billion for the US so far. However, its reported figures have been subject to change, with DOGE reducing its public tally by billions of dollars several times.

With DOGE under its purview, the Trump administration has fired thousands of probationary employees across multiple federal agencies. In January, another 2 million employees were given a chance to resign in exchange for a payout and benefits. More than 75,000 workers accepted the deal.

Critics of the agency are concerned that it's working too quickly and without oversight and transparency, potentially opening important services in America to risk or jeopardizing the careers of thousands.

That could stand to change.

On Monday, US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that DOGE would have to comply with three Freedom of Information Act requests filed by a watchdog nonprofit. The decision can still be appealed.

A representative for DOGE did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

——————————————-
By: [email protected] (Matthew Loh,Kwan Wei Kevin Tan)
Title: Elon Musk says he wants to double the DOGE team’s head count
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-wants-to-double-doge-teams-headcount-2025-3
Published Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2025 09:38:26 +0000

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