Representatives of the Trump administration acknowledged that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) no longer functions as a “centralized” structure, but insist that the “principles” of the flagship cost-cutting initiative remain in effect. The administration issued a response after Reuters reported on Sunday about the “dissolution” of DOGE eight months before the deadline set by the executive order signed by Trump in January. The order established DOGE by reorganizing the US Digital Service, an existing federal agency that was renamed the US DOGE Service and made subordinate to the executive branch. “The truth is that DOGE may have lost centralized leadership under @USDS. But the principles of DOGE are alive and well: deregulation; eradicating fraud, waste, and abuse; reforming the federal workforce; making efficiency a top priority, etc.,” Scott Gottschalk, director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), wrote on X on Sunday. “DOGE served as a catalyst for these changes; agencies, together with @USOPM and @WHOMB, will cement them at the institutional level!” However, after DOGE caused upheaval in government operations for several months by firing or forcing the resignation of hundreds of thousands of employees, canceling contracts, and abolishing entire agencies, it remains unclear in what specific organizational structure this initiative continues to operate. The US DOGE Service stated in a LinkedIn post that President Donald Trump’s executive order remains “in effect,” although this leaves open questions about its current form. “USDS continues to collaborate with agencies to modernize federal technology and software to maximize the efficiency and productivity of government operations,” said a statement from the department shared by Amy Gleason, who was appointed acting administrator of the department in February. An OPM representative did not respond to a request for comment on Monday seeking clarification on DOGE’s organizational structure. Gleason referred CNN to the USDS LinkedIn post. Furthermore, according to her biography for an expert panel earlier this month, she also serves as a strategic advisor at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Since its creation, DOGE has operated opaquely, making it difficult to ascertain its functioning, its actual achievement of stated savings goals, its staffing, or even its leadership. The initiative was headed by technology billionaire Elon Musk, who became the public face of the project, brandishing a chainsaw at a political convention earlier this year to highlight the department’s cost-cutting goals. However, it took the White House over a month after DOGE’s creation to name Gleason as acting administrator. DOGE embedded many of its employees within various agencies across the federal system. Many of them received the status of special government employees, which limited their tenure to just 130 days. At least some of these employees subsequently became permanent employees of the agencies. For example, at the Social Security Administration, Michael Russo and Aram Moghaddesi were listed in leadership roles as Chief Information Officers in September. In court documents earlier this year, both were identified as members of DOGE. At the end of September, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reported in a contingency plan that DOGE had 45 employees. But as of today, it is unclear whether any DOGE employees remain at all, and if so, whether they report directly to Gleason or individually to the specific agencies they were assigned to. The DOGE online tracker claims that as of October 4, approximately $214 billion in savings have been achieved through asset sales, cancellation and renegotiation of contracts and leases, elimination of fraud and improper payments, cancellation of grants, workforce reductions, and other measures. However, its previous calculations have been disputed.
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