The DOGE days ended when Trump disbanded Elon Musk’s federal cost-cutting team

The Trump administration has disbanded the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a controversial federal cost-cutting team led by Elon Musk, though the unit’s mandate remains months away.

Reuters first reported this weekend that DOGE had been spun off, bringing an end to a months-long effort by Musk and his associates — many of them recruited from various private-sector companies — to curb fraud, alleged waste and staff cuts across the federal government. DOGE was created by an executive order signed by President Trump in January. The initiative was expected to last for approximately two years.

As of early November, DOGE is “defunct,” according to Scott Kubor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which serves as the federal government’s human resources department.

In a tweet on Sunday, Cobor said DOGE “may not have central leadership” anymore under the US Digital Service, but that “DOGE’s principles remain alive and well: deregulate; eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse; reshape the federal workforce; and make efficiency a first-class citizen.”

During its activity, DOGE claimed to have saved the federal government billions of dollars in wasted taxpayer money. But critics, including lawmakers, say the Justice Department has dismantled federal programs and state departments with little to show in terms of quantifiable savings.

DOGE cuts have also been blamed for countless deaths around the world following the closure of the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, which provided humanitarian aid and disaster relief. DOGE also gained access to federal databases containing highly sensitive personal information belonging to millions of Americans, and has been accused of security lapses that put that data at risk from malicious adversaries.

Musk left DOGE earlier this year after a public disagreement with President Trump.

According to Politico, many DOGE employees reportedly fear they could face future federal charges without protection from Musk, who may have been able to obtain a presidential pardon for them if necessary.

Many DOGE employees now work in other US federal government departments, according to Reuters, while other prominent DOGE employees have said they no longer work for the government. Edward Corstin, whose nickname “Big Balls” has gone viral, said in a post on X in June that he was “officially out” of DOGE.