Elon Musk’s rapid acquisition of two US government agencies has enabled the world’s richest man to gain unprecedented control over the 2.2-million-member US federal workforce and begin a dramatic overhaul of government, Reuters reported.
In just two weeks, Musk—an ally of Donald Trump, the most powerful president in the world—has established a new hub of power in Washington by carrying out Trump’s spending-cutting plan to make the US government smaller.
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has moved quickly, using groups of his company’s current and former workers as his operatives, causing panic among government officials and public demonstrations in Washington, and occasionally threatening to overshadow the president’s own agenda.
The United States’ primary humanitarian aid organization to the world, USAID, was shut down as a result of Musk’s actions this week, according to Reuters.
The 53-year-old Musk’s actions are a part of Trump’s massive government overhaul, in which he has dismissed and marginalized hundreds of civil servants as part of his initial efforts to decrease the size of the U.S. government department’s bureaucracy and replace it with more devoted individuals.
Reuters was informed by Don Moynihan, a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, that there was “an extraordinary centralization of power in someone who lacks a top-level security clearance and has not been subjected to any Senate confirmation process.”
“Musk has unprecedented and centralized control of the basic plumbing of government,” Professor Moynihan added.
On Monday, February 3, the president informed reporters that Musk would need White House approval before he could take any action.
Musk does not receive a government salary, according to Reuters, and the establishment of the DOGE sparked lawsuits from public interest organizations, government unions, and watchdogs right away.
Nevertheless, it is unclear exactly who makes up DOGE, and the Trump administration has not released a list of DOGE employees. How many they are adding to each organization, whether they are government employees, and their compensation are all unknown. This indicates to whom, as the head of the executive branch, they will report—Edwards or Trump.
The General Services Administration’s computer systems and the Office of Personnel Management have been taken over by billionaire Musk and his DOGE lieutenants, according to Reuters.
OPM (Office of Personnel Management) is the human resources arm of the US government, which oversees 2.2 million government employees. As a result, emails were sent last week offering financial incentives to federal employees to resign. The General Services Administration (GSA) oversees most government contracts and manages federal property.
A group that took control of OPM and prevented some senior managers from accessing its own computer systems includes at least four current and former Musk aides, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system, which transfers over $6 trillion annually on behalf of federal agencies and holds the personal data of millions of Americans who receive Social Security benefits, tax refunds, and other government payments, was also accessed by a Musk aide team on Friday, according to Reuters.
According to Michael Linden, a senior official in Joe Biden’s administration, Musk’s associates have extraordinary potential power because they have access to payment systems.
Musk’s partner In addition to accusing many federal employees of being liberal idealists determined to obstruct his agenda, Trump has stated time and time again that the federal bureaucracy is oversized, ineffective, and needs to be reduced.
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