DOGE quietly shuts down way ahead of schedule just days after Elon Musk reunited with Trump at White House

President Donald Trump’s signature government cuts task force quietly collapsed eight months into his term, despite months of boasting from Trump, Elon Musk and senior administration officials.

The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which once attacked federal agencies with sweeping cutbacks and headline-grabbing demonstrations, is now effectively out of existence.

When asked about the status of DOGE, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor gave the first official confirmation that DOGE was ending: ‘It does not exist.’

In the first public comment from the Trump administration on DOGE’s demise, Kupor added that DOGE was no longer a ‘central entity.’

The agency, created in January, made dramatic moves across Washington in the early months of Trump’s second term to rapidly shrink federal agencies, cut their budgets or redirect their work to Trump’s priorities.

OPM, the federal government’s human resources office, has since taken over many of DOGE’s functions, according to Kupor and documents reviewed by Reuters.

At least two prominent DOGE employees are currently based at the National Design Studio, a new structure created by an executive order signed by Trump in August.

That board is chaired by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, and Trump’s order directed him to beautify government websites.

Musk, who initially led DOGE, regularly touted his work on the X platform and at one point brandished a chainsaw to advertise his government layoff efforts.

Gebbia was part of billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE team; DOGE employee Edward Coristine, nicknamed ‘Big Balls’, encouraged followers on the X account to apply to participate.

DOGE’s disappearance stands in sharp contrast to months of government-wide efforts to garner attention, with Trump, his advisers and cabinet secretaries posting about it on social media.

Musk, who initially ran DOGE, regularly touted his work on the X platform and at one point brandished a chainsaw to advertise his government layoff efforts.

“This is the chainsaw of bureaucracy,” Musk said as he held the tool above his head at the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor in Maryland in February.

DOGE claimed to have cut tens of billions of dollars in spending, but it was impossible for outside financial experts to verify this because the unit did not provide detailed public accountings of its work.

“President Trump has been given a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government, and he continues to actively deliver on that commitment,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said.

Trump administration officials did not publicly say that DOGE no longer existed, even after Musk’s public fight with Trump in May. Musk has since left Washington.

Although the president signed an executive order earlier in his term stating that DOGE would last until July 2026, Trump and his team have been publicly signaling the end of that system since this summer.

A worker removes a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sign at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., in February

Supporters of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) hold banners as workers pick up personal belongings at USAID headquarters in Washington

Trump often mentions DOGE in his statements to journalists, opening a new tab in the past tense.

In addition to her role at DOGE, DOGE Acting Administrator Amy Gleason, whose background is in health technology, officially became an advisor to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy in March, according to a court filing.

His public statements largely focused on the HHS role.

Republican-led states including Idaho open new tab and Florida, meanwhile, are creating local organizations similar to DOGE.

The government-wide hiring freeze, another feature of DOGE, has also ended, Kupor said.

On his first day in office, Trump barred federal agencies from hiring new employees, except for positions his team deems necessary to enforce immigration laws and protect public safety.

He then said DOGE representatives must approve other exceptions, adding that agencies should not hire “more than one employee for every four employees” who leave.

“There is no longer a target for reductions,” Kupor said.

By May, more than 200,000 federal workers had been laid off and nearly 75,000 had accepted buyouts.

The organization said these cuts saved billions of dollars in expenses, but that it was impossible for experts to verify these claims due to a lack of public accounting.

DOGE staff also served in other roles in management. The most prominent of these is Gebbia, whom Trump tasked with improving the ‘visual presentation’ of government websites.

Musk left the agency in May after falling out with Trump

Shortly after Trump’s election, Musk said he had the power to ‘moisten the mountain’ of government regulations

So far, the design studio has launched websites to recruit law enforcement officials to patrol Washington, D.C., and advertise the president’s drug pricing program.

Zachary Terrell, who was part of the DOGE team that was given access to government healthcare systems in the early days of Trump’s second term, now serves as chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Rachel Riley, who has the same access according to court filings, is now chief of the Naval Office of Investigation, according to the office’s website.

Musk and Jeremy Lewin, who helped the Trump administration dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, now oversee foreign aid at the State Department, according to the agency’s website.

Musk said shortly after Trump’s election that he had the authority to ‘wipe out the mountain’ of government regulations.

In addition to eliminating federal government jobs, he has made repealing government regulations and rebuilding government with artificial intelligence two of DOGE’s core tenets.

The administration is still trying to remove regulations.

The White House budget office tasked Scott Langmack, DOGE’s representative at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, with creating custom AI applications to review U.S. regulations and determine which ones to eliminate, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Meanwhile, Musk has resurfaced in Washington. Last week, he attended the dinner organized by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House.