Because the first days of the Trump administration, Elon Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) has been all over the place within the federal authorities, transferring quick and breaking issues. In a matter of weeks, DOGE operatives have unfold throughout dozens of authorities businesses as they’ve tried to terminate tens of hundreds of federal staff. With a lot deal with the place DOGE goes, WIRED needed to take a beat to have a look at the place they’ve come from and what which may inform us about how they’re eager about reshaping the federal authorities.
The massive takeaway: Many on the DOGE staff are from Musk’s world. If Musk is America’s CEO, then DOGE has turn out to be his Silicon Valley govt department.
We’ve mapped out a non-exhaustive checklist of individuals affiliated with DOGE, together with making a searchable desk with every member, their company historical past, and the businesses they’ve been linked to. Readers can verify that out, and click on via it, beneath. We plan to maintain updating this as we discover extra DOGE operatives or as recognized associates transfer to new businesses.
We’re centered on the brand new individuals introduced in beneath the second Trump administration or immediately employed into businesses—as Particular Authorities Staff (SGEs) or common staff—who’re working as members of DOGE groups. This will get just a little tough as a result of there are technically two DOGEs established beneath the president’s govt order. There’s the US DOGE Service (USDS), previously the US Digital Service, that’s a everlasting group. Then there’s the short-term USDS group, which wraps up on July 4, 2026, and thru which SGEs could be employed.
Right here’s what we’ve realized:
The DOGE world, because it stands, appears to interrupt down into roughly three classes: former Trump officers, conservative attorneys, and imports from the Silicon Valley space (funders, founders, technologists, or individuals linked to them). In that first class we discover individuals like DOGE spokesperson Katie Miller, the spouse of White Home deputy chief of employees for coverage Stephen Miller. The 2 of them have been Musk’s guides to DC.
In that second class are individuals like James Burnham and Austin Raynor, each former clerks for conservative Supreme Court docket justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, respectively. Jacob Altik, one other conservative lawyer on the DOGE squad, has been chosen to clerk for Gorsuch. Jeremy Lewin, who was a part of DOGE’s dismantling of the US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID), labored with Second Girl Usha Vance’s former legislation agency Munger, Tolles & Olson, a agency that has additionally represented Tesla.
Then, the most important throughline of all: Of these Silicon Valley imports, one of the clear themes throughout DOGE’s ranks is pretty apparent: a connection to Elon Musk. Forty-nine individuals on our checklist have connections to Musk, his firms, or his larger community. This connection is most frequently via one among his allies or one among his firms. There are the plain individuals like Steve Davis, president of Musk’s Boring Firm, who’ve adopted Musk throughout his numerous ventures. (Davis beforehand labored at SpaceX and assisted Musk in his overhaul of X, previously Twitter.) Davis spearheaded the DOGE recruitment efforts earlier than inauguration day and has continued to play a pivotal position within the group. Equally, SpaceX worker Brian Bjelde, who’s now on the Workplace of Personnel Administration (OPM), additionally helped Musk downsize Twitter’s employees in 2022.
There are individuals like lots of the younger engineers WIRED first recognized who got the keys to totally different authorities businesses, like Marko Elez, Luke Farritor, and Edward Coristine, who have been all interns or staff at one among Musk’s firms: SpaceX, Tesla, xAI, X, and Neuralink. (Musk has been concerned in others, however these are those he controls.)
