What Is DOGE and Who Runs It? Trump Says One Thing, Government Lawyers Say Another. | News World

What is the Department of Government Efficiency?

It’s a question that has come up over and over again in the avalanche of court cases challenging the authority of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to conduct a full-throttle effort to gut and remake the federal government.

Over two months of litigation playing out across more than 170 lawsuits, the government has offered limited answers but insisted on one thing: that Mr. Musk exercises no authority over the office and is not even an employee.

But that assertion flies in the face of Mr. Musk’s own words and deeds as the ideological leader and public face of the still-secretive office — and President Trump’s praise of his team as an engine of upheaval. Mr. Musk and his associates have been involved in the effective shutdown of…more