Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) hasn’t even existed for a month and its already the focus of much attention – from its reported efforts to slash government staff to the identities of its own workers.
Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were picked to lead DOGE by President Donald Trump. Part of the department’s mission is to find ways to cut government spending, and reports have linked the new team with controversial changes at the Office of Personnel Management and more.
When identities of other employees in the new department were posted this week on the Musk-owned social media platform X, he responded to the poster by telling them they committed a crime and the account was suspended. Interim District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Ed Martin said on X that he would help to protect DOGE workers.
“Martin is a Trump hardliner who on Friday fired some 30 federal prosecutors in his office who had worked on Jan. 6 Capitol riot cases,” said Rolling Stone. Trump recently pardoned those arrested in connection with the Capitol riot.
However, the DOGE employee names have been reported by Wired and then by Rolling Stone.
“They span in age from 19 to their mid-twenties and have minimal government experience (if any), though most have connections to either Musk or his onetime PayPal colleague Peter Thiel, another right-wing Silicon Valley billionaire whose data analytics firm Palantir holds valuable U.S. defense contracts,” Rolling Stone reported. Previously, Audacy reported that DOGE was seeking applications from people with a “hardcore” work ethic.
Forbes reported that the reveal came with a “wave of criticism that individuals with no high-level experience in the public sector were given access to the Department of the Treasury’s payment system to carry out their duties.” It also noted that DOGE was created without oversight from lawmakers.
The outlet reached out to experts to ask whether publishing of the employee names could be considered doxing, or a non-consensual release of personal information online. Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associate dean for the School of Information at the University of Michigan, explained that doxing has a broad definition. Dr. Julianna Kirschner, lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California said that merely sharing names does not count as doxing.
“Elon Musk’s free speech absolutism position should apply to all situations if he truly holds those beliefs. However, the leaked case of DOGE employees’ names has shown there are exceptions to the rule for Musk,” she suggested.
As of Wednesday, photos and other information about the DOGE employees were available online. One was identified as a former University of Nebraska-Lincoln student, and the Nebraska Examiner reported that it tracked down someone who described himself as a “friend of the family” near what is believed to be the man’s home.
In a Wednesday report, independent outlet 404 Media said that employees working for DOGE “have been ordered to stop using Slack while government lawyers attempt to transition the agency to one that is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.”
Slack is a social media app meant to help employees communicate with each other. Through the Freedom of Information Act, the public can request government records, in some cases including emails and messages sent though applications such as Slack.
“Good morning, everyone! As a reminder, please refrain from using Slack at the moment while our various general counsels figure out the best way to handle the records migration to our new EOP [Executive Office of the President] component,” said a message seen by 404 Media. Under that office, DOGE may not have to comply with FOIA requests, as it would be under the Presidential Records Act, the outlet said.