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Elon Musk’s Blitz Shakes U.S. Government as He Sweeps Through Agencies

Elon Musk’s Blitz Shakes U.S. Government as He Sweeps Through Agencies


In Elon Musk’s first two weeks in authorities, his lieutenants gained entry to carefully held monetary and information programs, casting apart profession officers who warned that they had been defying protocols. They moved swiftly to shutter particular packages — and even a whole company that had come into Mr. Musk’s cross hairs. They bombarded federal staff with messages suggesting they had been lazy and inspiring them to go away their jobs.

Empowered by President Trump, Mr. Musk is waging a largely unchecked battle in opposition to the federal forms — one which has already had far-reaching penalties.

Mr. Musk’s aggressive incursions into at the very least half a dozen authorities businesses have challenged congressional authority and probably breached civil service protections.

Top officers on the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development who objected to the actions of his representatives had been swiftly pushed apart. And Mr. Musk’s efforts to close down U.S.A.I.D., a key supply of overseas help, have reverberated across the globe.

Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, is sweeping by means of the federal authorities as a singular power, creating main upheaval as he seems to place an ideological stamp on the forms and rid the system of those that he and the president deride as “the deep state.”

The speedy strikes by Mr. Musk, who has a mess of economic pursuits earlier than the federal government, have represented a unprecedented flexing of energy by a personal particular person.

The velocity and scale have shocked civil servants, who’ve been frantically exchanging info on encrypted chats, attempting to discern what’s unfolding.

Senior White House employees members have at occasions additionally discovered themselves at midnight, in line with two officers, who spoke on the situation of anonymity to explain delicate discussions. One Trump official, who was not licensed to talk publicly, stated Mr. Musk was extensively seen as working with a stage of autonomy that just about nobody can management.

Mr. Musk, the chief of SpaceX, Tesla and X, is working with a frantic, around-the-clock vitality acquainted to the staff at his varied firms, flanked by a cadre of younger engineers, drawn partially from Silicon Valley. He has moved beds into the headquarters of the federal personnel workplace a number of blocks from the White House, in line with an individual aware of the state of affairs, so he and his employees, working late into the night time, might sleep there, reprising a tactic he has deployed at Twitter and Tesla.

This time, nevertheless, he carries the authority of the president, who has bristled at a few of Mr. Musk’s ready-fire-aim impulses however has praised him publicly.

“He’s an enormous cost-cutter,” Mr. Trump instructed reporters on Sunday. “Sometimes we gained’t agree with it and we’ll not go the place he needs to go. But I believe he’s doing an incredible job. He’s a sensible man.”

Mr. Musk, who leads a cost-cutting initiative the administration calls the Department of Government Efficiency, boasted on Saturday that his willingness to work weekends was a “superpower” that gave him a bonus over his adversary. The adversary he was referring to was the federal work power.

“Very few within the forms truly work the weekend, so it’s just like the opposing staff simply leaves the sector for two days!” Mr. Musk posted on X.

There is not any precedent for a authorities official to have Mr. Musk’s scale of conflicts of curiosity, which embody home holdings and overseas connections reminiscent of enterprise relationships in China. And there isn’t a precedent for somebody who isn’t a full-time worker to have such potential to reshape the federal work power.

The historian Douglas Brinkley described Mr. Musk as a “lone ranger” with limitless working room. He famous that the billionaire was working “past scrutiny,” saying: “There isn’t one single entity holding Musk accountable. It’s a harbinger of the destruction of our primary establishments.”

Several former and present senior authorities officers — even those that like what he’s doing — expressed a way of helplessness about the way to deal with Mr. Musk’s stage of unaccountability. At one level after one other, Trump officers have typically relented reasonably than attempt to gradual him down. Some hoped Congress would select to reassert itself.

Mr. Trump himself sounded a notably cautionary be aware on Monday, telling reporters: “Elon can’t do and gained’t do something with out our approval. And we’ll give him the approval the place applicable, the place not applicable, we gained’t.”

“If there’s a battle,” he added, “then we gained’t let him get close to it.”

However, the president has given Mr. Musk huge energy over the forms that regulates his firms and awards them contracts. He is shaping not simply coverage however personnel selections, together with efficiently pushing for Mr. Trump to choose Troy Meink because the Air Force secretary, in line with three individuals with direct information of his position.

Mr. Meink beforehand ran the Pentagon’s National Reconnaissance Office, which helped Mr. Musk safe a multibillion-dollar contract for SpaceX to assist construct and deploy a spy satellite tv for pc community for the federal authorities.

Mr. Musk has additionally taken a eager curiosity within the federal authorities’s actual property portfolio, managed by the General Services Administration, transferring to terminate leases. Internally, G.S.A. leaders have began to debate eliminating as a lot as 50 p.c of the company’s funds, in line with individuals aware of the conversations.

Perhaps most vital, Mr. Musk has sought to dismantle U.S.A.I.D., the federal government’s lead company for humanitarian help and growth help. Mr. Trump has already frozen overseas help spending, however Mr. Musk has gone additional.

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wooden chipper,” Mr. Musk gloated on X at 1:54 a.m. Monday. “Could gone to some nice events. Did that as an alternative.”

Mr. Musk’s allies now purpose to inject synthetic intelligence instruments into authorities programs, utilizing them to evaluate contracts and suggest cuts. On Monday, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who has been tapped to guide a expertise staff at G.S.A., instructed some employees members that he hoped to place all federal contracts right into a centralized system in order that they may very well be analyzed by synthetic intelligence, three individuals aware of the assembly stated.

Mr. Musk’s actions have astounded and alarmed Democrats and authorities watchdog teams. They query if Mr. Musk is breaching federal legal guidelines that give Congress the ultimate energy to create or eradicate federal businesses and set their budgets, require public disclosure of presidency actions and prohibit people from taking actions which may profit themselves personally.

At least 4 lawsuits have been filed in federal courtroom to problem his authority and the strikes by the brand new administration, nevertheless it stays to be seen if judicial overview can sustain with Mr. Musk.

The New York Times spoke to greater than three dozen present and former administration officers, federal staff and folks near Mr. Musk who described his increasing affect over the federal authorities. Few had been prepared to talk on the file, for concern of retribution.

“Before Congress and the courts can reply, Elon Musk can have rolled up the entire authorities,” stated one official who works inside an company the place representatives from Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting initiative have asserted management.

Mr. Musk says he’s making lengthy overdue reforms. So far, his staff has claimed to assist save the federal authorities greater than $1 billion a day by means of efforts just like the cancellation of federal constructing leases and contracts associated to variety, fairness and inclusion, though they’ve supplied few specifics.

Workers within the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which housed some operations for the United States Digital Service, arrived the day after Mr. Trump’s inauguration to discover a sticky be aware with “DOGE” on a door to a collection as soon as used as a piece area for senior technologists on the company.

It was one of many first indicators that Mr. Musk’s staff had arrived. Inside, black backpacks had been strewed about, and unfamiliar younger males roamed the halls with out the safety badges that federal staff usually carried to enter their places of work.

The fast takeover was just like the playbook Mr. Musk has used within the personal sector, the place he has been a ruthless price cutter, subscribing to the philosophy that it’s higher to chop too deeply and repair any issues that come up later. He routinely pushes his staff to disregard rules they think about “dumb.” And he’s recognized for taking excessive dangers, pushing each Tesla and SpaceX to the brink of chapter earlier than rescuing them.

In his present position, Mr. Musk has a direct line to Mr. Trump and operates with little if any accountability or oversight, in line with individuals aware of the dynamic. He usually enters the White House by means of a facet entrance, and drops into conferences. He has an in depth working relationship with Mr. Trump’s prime coverage adviser, Stephen Miller, who shares Mr. Musk’s contempt for a lot of the federal work power.

At one level, Mr. Musk sought to sleep over within the White House residence. He sought and was granted an workplace within the West Wing however instructed people who it was too small. Since then, he has instructed associates he’s reveling within the trappings of the opulent Secretary of War Suite within the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the place he has labored some days. His staff is staffed closely by engineers — at the very least one as younger as 19 — who’ve labored at his firms like X or SpaceX, however have little if any expertise in authorities coverage and are searching for safety clearances.

Officially, Mr. Musk is serving as a particular authorities worker, in line with the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. This is a standing usually given to part-time, outdoors advisers to the federal authorities who provide recommendation primarily based on personal sector experience.

The White House declined to say if Mr. Musk had been granted a waiver that allowed him to get entangled in businesses whose actions might have an effect on his personal private pursuits. And even when he had been given such a waiver, 4 former White House ethics legal professionals stated they may not envision the way it may very well be structured to appropriately cowl the vary of the work Mr. Musk is overseeing.

In an announcement, Ms. Leavitt stated that “Elon Musk is selflessly serving President Trump’s administration as a particular authorities worker, and he has abided by all relevant federal legal guidelines.”

Mr. Musk has instructed Trump administration officers that to satisfy their mission of radically decreasing the dimensions of the federal authorities, they should achieve entry to the computer systems — the programs that home the info and the main points of presidency personnel, and the pipes that distribute cash on behalf of the federal authorities.

Mr. Musk has been pondering radically about methods to sharply cut back federal spending for all the presidential transition. After canvassing funds consultants, he ultimately grew to become fixated on a essential a part of the nation’s infrastructure: the Treasury Department fee system that disburses trillions of {dollars} a 12 months on behalf of the federal authorities.

Mr. Musk has instructed administration officers that he thinks they may stability the funds in the event that they eradicate the fraudulent funds leaving the system, in line with an official who mentioned the matter with him. It is unclear what he’s basing that assertion on. The federal deficit for 2024 was $1.8 trillion. The Government Accountability Office estimated in a report that the federal government made $236 billion in improper funds — three-quarters of which had been overpayments — throughout 71 federal packages throughout the 2023 fiscal 12 months.

The push by Mr. Musk into the Treasury Department led to a months-in-the-making standoff final week when a prime profession official, David Lebryk, resisted giving representatives from the cost-cutting effort entry to the federal fee system. Mr. Lebryk was threatened with administrative go away after which retired. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent subsequently authorized entry for the Musk staff, as The Times beforehand reported.

The Treasury Department’s proprietary system for paying the nation’s monetary obligations is an operation historically run by a small group of profession civil servants with deep technical experience. The prospect of an intrusion into that system by outsiders reminiscent of Mr. Musk and his staff has raised alarm amongst present and former Treasury officers {that a} mishap might result in essential authorities obligations going unpaid, with penalties starting from missed advantages funds to a federal default.

Ms. Leavitt stated the entry they had been granted to this point was “learn solely,” that means the employees members couldn’t alter funds.

Democrats on Monday stated they’d introduce laws to attempt to bar Mr. Musk’s deputies from getting into the Treasury system. “The Treasury secretary should revoke DOGE’s entry to the Treasury fee system directly,” stated Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority chief. “If he doesn’t, Congress should act instantly.”

Another key pipeline is the federal government’s personnel database, run out of the Office of Personnel Management, the place Mr. Musk has shortly asserted his affect. At least 5 individuals who have labored for Mr. Musk in some capability now have key roles within the workplace, in line with individuals aware of their roles.

Last week, the personnel company despatched an e mail to roughly two million federal staff providing them the choice to resign however be paid by means of the tip of September. The e mail’s topic line, “Fork within the Road,” was the identical one which Mr. Musk utilized in an e mail he despatched to Twitter staff providing them severance packages in late 2022. Since then, Mr. Musk has promoted the provide on social media and known as it “very beneficiant.”

Mr. Musk can also be finding out the workings of the G.S.A., which manages federal properties. During a go to to the company final week, accompanied by his younger son, whom Mr. Musk named “X Æ A-12,” and a nanny, he spoke with the company’s new appearing administrator, Stephen Ehikian.

After the assembly, officers mentioned a plan to eradicate 50 p.c of expenditures, in line with individuals aware of the discussions. And Mr. Ehikian instructed employees members in a separate assembly that he wished them to use a method known as “zero primarily based budgeting,” an method that Mr. Musk deployed throughout his Twitter takeover and at his different firms. The concept is to scale back spending of a program or contract to zero, after which argue to revive any mandatory {dollars}.

Russell T. Vought, who served in Mr. Trump’s first administration and is his selection once more to guide the Office of Management and Budget, has spoken overtly concerning the Trump staff’s plans for dismantling civil service.

“We need the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Mr. Vought stated in a 2023 speech. “When they get up within the morning, we wish them to not wish to go to work as a result of they’re more and more seen because the villains.”

Mr. Musk, who pushed Mr. Vought for the funds workplace position, for which he’s awaiting Senate affirmation, has echoed that rhetoric, portraying profession civil servants and the businesses they work for as enemies.

U.S.A.I.D., which oversees civilian overseas help, is “evil,” Mr. Musk wrote in quite a few posts on Sunday, whereas “profession Treasury officers are breaking the legislation each hour of daily,” he stated in one other submit.

Mr. Musk used the identical tactic throughout his 2022 takeover of Twitter, through which he depicted the corporate’s earlier administration as malicious and plenty of of its staff as inept and oppositional to his targets. In firing Twitter executives “for trigger” and withholding their exit packages, Mr. Musk accused a few of them of corruption and attacked them personally in public posts.

The techniques by Mr. Musk and his staff have stored civil servants unbalanced, afraid of talking out and unsure of their futures and their livelihoods.

On Jan. 27, members of the staff entered the headquarters and close by annex of the help company within the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, U.S. officers stated.

The staff demanded and was granted entry to the company’s monetary and personnel programs, in line with two U.S. officers with direct information of the exercise and the company’s internal workings. During this era, an appearing administrator on the company put about 60 senior officers on paid go away and issued stop-work orders that led to the firing of tons of of contractors with full-time employment and well being advantages.

By Saturday, the company’s web site vanished. And when the 2 prime safety administrators tried to cease members of the staff from getting into a safe space that day to get labeled information, they had been positioned on administrative go away.

Katie Miller, a member of the Musk initiative, stated on X that “no labeled materials was accessed with out correct safety clearances.”

By Monday, U.S.A.I.D. was successfully paralyzed. In a dwell broadcast on his social media platform early Monday, Mr. Musk stated the president agreed “that we should always shut it down.”

Mr. Musk’s staff has prioritized secrecy, sharing little outdoors the roughly 40 individuals who, as of Inauguration Day, had been working as a part of the trouble. The billionaire has reposted messages accusing individuals of attempting to “dox,” or publish personal details about, his aides when their names have been made public, claiming it’s a “crime” to take action.

The opacity has added to the anxiousness inside the civil service. A variety of the staff throughout the federal government stated that they had been interviewed by representatives of Mr. Musk who had declined to share their surnames. Mr. Musk’s aides have declined to reply questions themselves, constantly describing the classes as “one-way interviews.”

Some staff who sat for interviews had been requested what initiatives they had been engaged on and who needs to be fired from the company, individuals aware of the conversations stated.

“My impression was not certainly one of assist or real understanding however of suspicion, and questioning,” one General Services Administration worker wrote in an inside Slack message to colleagues, describing the interview course of.

Some of the younger staff on Mr. Musk’s staff share an identical uniform: blazers worn over T-shirts. At the G.S.A., some employees members started calling the staff “the Bobs,” a reference to administration guide characters from the darkish comedy film “Office Space” who’re accountable for layoffs.

Many of Mr. Musk’s lieutenants are engaged on a number of initiatives at completely different businesses concurrently, utilizing completely different e mail addresses and displaying up at completely different places of work.

One instance is Luke Farritor, a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern, who was among the many staff given entry to U.S.A.I.D. programs, in line with individuals aware of his position. He can also be listed as an “government engineer” within the workplace of the secretary of well being and human companies, and had an e mail account on the G.S.A., data present. Mr. Farritor didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Mr. Musk’s aides, together with Mr. Farritor, have requested entry to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services programs that management contracts and the greater than $1 trillion in funds that exit yearly, in line with a doc seen by The Times.

The staff stories to a longtime Musk adviser, Steve Davis, who helped lead cost-cutting efforts at X and SpaceX, and has himself amassed extraordinary energy throughout federal businesses.

In personal conversations, Mr. Musk has instructed associates that he considers the last word metric for his success to be the variety of {dollars} saved per day, and he’s sorting concepts primarily based on that rating.

“The extra I’ve gotten to know President Trump, the extra I like him. Frankly, I like the man,” Mr. Musk stated in a dwell audio dialog on X early Monday morning. “This is our shot. This is the most effective hand of playing cards we’re ever going to have.”

Reporting was contributed by Erica L. Green, Alan Rappeport, Andrew Duehren, Eric Lipton, Charlie Savage, Edward Wong, Sarah Kliff and Karoun Demirjian.

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