Washington, Nov 23 — The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump‑era office charged with shrinking federal size, has just been shut down, even though its charter was supposed to run through July 2026. The agency, which launched with much fanfare as evidence of President Donald Trump’s promise to cut government, is now gone with a year‑and‑a‑quarter of its original mandate left.
“That doesn’t exist,” Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor said in an interview with Reuters earlier this month when reporters asked what had happened to DOGE. He went on to say that it is no longer “a centralized entity,” marking the first public comment from the Trump administration about the agency’s dissolution.
DOGE was created in January and quickly made high‑profile moves in Washington during the early months of Trump’s second term. Its goal was to reduce the size of federal agencies, trim their budgets, or redirect their work toward Trump’s priorities. Since the agency’s end, the OPM, which serves as the federal government’s human‑resources office, has taken over many of DOGE’s duties, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
Two former DOGE officers have since joined the National Design Studio, a new body formed by executive order in August. Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co‑founder who was chosen by Trump to beautify government websites, heads the studio. Gebbia had once been a member of the initial DOGE team led by Elon Musk, and another ex‑staffor, Edward Coristine—nicknamed “Big Balls” on X—has encouraged followers to apply to work for the new venture.
While DOGE boasted it had cut tens of billions of dollars in spending, external analysts were unable to verify those claims because the agency never published detailed financial records. In response, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said that the president had a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government and was still actively working to fulfill that commitment.
Officials in the Trump administration have been hinting that DOGE is gone without officially confirming its closure, even after Musk’s public feud with the president in May, after which Musk left Washington. Trump and his aides have signaled its demise repeatedly since the summer, despite the earlier executive order that extended the agency’s lifespan into 2026.
Acting DOGE Administrator Amy Gleason, whose background is in healthcare technology, officially became an adviser to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy in March, according to a court filing. She has largely focused on that role publicly.
Meanwhile, Republican‑led states like Idaho and Florida are establishing local agencies that mirror the functions once performed by DOGE.
The federal hiring freeze that was a hallmark of DOGE has also ended, Kupor confirmed. Trump had barred new hires at federal agencies on his first day in office, allowing only positions deemed necessary for immigration enforcement or public safety. He later required DOGE officials to approve other exceptions and set a rapid replacement goal of no more than one hire per four departures. Now that rule no longer applies.
Former DOGE staff have moved on to other positions within the administration. Gebbia is now overseeing the visual presentation of government websites, launching sites that recruit law enforcement for Washington, DC and promote the president’s drug‑price program. Zachary Terrell, who once had access to federal health systems during DOGE’s early days, is now chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services. Rachel Riley, another former DOGE member, now leads the Office of Naval Research.
Jeremy Lewin, who helped Musk and the Trump team dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, now oversees foreign assistance at the State Department.
Musk previously declared his mandate to “delete the mountain” of government regulations and use artificial intelligence to remake the government. Two of DOGE’s core initiatives were to eliminate federal jobs and rewrite regulations. The White House budget office has tasked Scott Langmack—once DOGE’s representative at the Department of Housing and Urban Development—with developing AI tools to review U.S. regulations and recommend which ones to eliminate, per his LinkedIn profile. Musk has since resurfaced in Washington, attending a White House dinner hosted for Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
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