Hundreds of contracts were terminated in 18 days, and Musk brought six young players born in the 2000s to "make a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace"

Author: Penny, BlockBeats

On the morning of February 3, Washington time, the headquarters building of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was closed, and the originally bustling office area fell silent. Just the night before, the Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officials led by Elon Musk formally took over the more than 60-year-old international aid agency and announced plans to completely close. USAID employees receive emails, except for those in key positions, all the rest of the staff are transferred to remote work. At the same time, the official USAID website was offline, the official social media account was deleted, and the organization's operations were stagnant.

Musk said on social media that he had discussed the matter with President Trump and was given full authorization to close USAID. He claimed that the institution was a "extreme left criminal organization" and must be completely dissolved.

Musk cooperated with Trump to establish the Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to promote radical reform in the name of "simplifying the government". Its core goals are mainly to reduce government spending, digitally transform the bureaucratic system, and use algorithms to replace human decision-making. This vigorous shutdown of USAID also made the members of the DOGE team, who had been mysterious before, reveal their true face, and this may just be the beginning. The power map of the US federal government is being quickly reshaped.

Team composition: "Six Tech players" with an average of 22 years old

The DOGE team consists of six technical elites aged 19-25, none of whom have no government experience, but is closely linked to Musk enterprises (such as SpaceX, Neuralink) or Silicon Valley capital (such as Peter Thiel).

 Picture source network

Gavin Krieger (25): Krieger graduated from the University of California, Berkeley majoring in electronic engineering and computer science. He has worked as a senior software engineer at Databricks, an AI data analysis company in the United States. He is an expert in artificial intelligence and big data analysis. Krieger's mission was to write executive orders and ensure they could take effect quickly within the government, and the email sent to all USAID employees on Monday was from him without having to go back to work. He also directly drafted a funding review order for the U.S. Treasury Department, participated in OPM's massive layoffs program, and was responsible for formulating "re-hiring standards" for civil servants, so that future government employees must be approved by DOGE before they can be started.

Luke Farito (23): Farito has dropped out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and later worked for Nat Friedman, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur behind GitHub. He has interned at SpaceX, writing software for pumps, valves and other components that help fuel rockets. Farito is currently listed as the "executive engineer" in the Secretary's Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and personally oversees USAID's digital lockdown operation, with the next target already targeting Medicare and Medicaid services responsible for contracts. Central system.

Edward Corristine (19): Corristine is the youngest, just graduated from high school, studying mechanical engineering and physics at Northeastern University in Boston, and worked at Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink last summer After three months, his specific responsibilities have not been clarified yet. Corristin used non-governmental Google Gmail to join calls from General Services Administration employees, asking them to check the code they wrote and justify their work, a move that sparked dissatisfaction with federal employees.

Akash Boba (21): Boba is from UC Berkeley and was an investment engineering intern at Bridgewater. He was previously at Meta and founded by MAGA funder Peter Thiel. Palantir has been internships and specializes in artificial intelligence, data analysis and financial modeling. He is responsible for designing algorithms to monitor the flow of government funds, and the dominant "real-time monitoring system for fiscal spending" allows real-time freezing of federal "inefficient spending" without Congress review.

Ethan Shotland (22): Shotland is a senior at Harvard Computer Science and the only person on his team to start an artificial intelligence entrepreneurship experience. The artificial intelligence company Energize AI, he founded, received 10 of OpenAI Funded by $10,000, he won the runner-up in a hackathon held by Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI. Shotland is responsible for DOGE's AI government program, with the goal of replacing the government's traditional human decision-making mechanism with algorithms, automating most administrative approvals, budget assessments, and even congressional reports.

Gottier Cole Killian (24): Cracking the Ministry of Finance’s security system and obtaining payment network permissions. Killian graduated from McGill University and has great abilities in financial data processing. He worked as an engineer at Jump Trading, a company specializing in high-frequency financial transactions and algorithms. Killian's main task is to help the DOGE team crack the Treasury security line, allowing them to access the government payment network and bypass security checks to read millions of transaction records directly. Killian is also one of the few young people to gain senior access to the White House, and Musk has a very high trust in him.

With the joint efforts of these six people, DOGE completed the administrative restructuring that the U.S. government has not achieved in decades in just two weeks. Their actions are extremely efficient, and each person is responsible for multiple tasks, operating day and night. Some employees of the team never leave their posts 7x24 hours a day, and sleep in the office when they are tired and sleepy. They have a comprehensive audit of the bottomless federal agency in the United States. Musk has a very high opinion of them and has praised them on social media as the "future of the new government."

The White House launches a "Silicon Valley-style Blitz"

Since Trump took office on January 20, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Musk has begun to carry out vigorous reforms:

On January 20, the Chief Diversity Officer Executive Committee (CDOEC) was closed;

On February 3, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was closed;

The Ministry of Education may be laid off (the DOGE team has begun reviewing the Ministry of Education’s contract and financial data and plans to clear “non-essential expenditures”, suggesting that the Ministry of Education may become the next target of laid off);

The Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services are potential targets (the DOGE team has begun collecting its financial data and further action may take place in the future).

The New York Times disclosed that at Trump's instruction, Musk's team is implementing systematic takeover of US federal agencies through extraordinary means. The most controversial USAID shutdown is just the prelude to this in-depth change—in fact, there were clues before the agency closed. In the past half a month, more than 70% of USAID's departments have been laid off one after another, and more than 1,000 formal employees and contract personnel have been forced to sever or suspended indefinitely. Its digital portal has been completely paralyzed, social media has been stopped, and even the nameplate signs at the headquarters of the organization are It was quietly removed.

 Image source: USAID official website, stating that all directly hired personnel in USAID take administrative leave on Friday, February 7, 11:59 pm Eastern Time.

This systematic takeover is spreading at an alarming rate. Musk's DOGE team not only quickly controls the USAID operation center, but also penetrates into core departments such as the Ministry of Finance, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the General Affairs Administration (GSA), and other core departments. It has chief security officers and chief financial officers of multiple key departments. Officials and executives were dismissed from office in a concentrated manner, and a large number of senior civil servants were undermined. In sharp contrast, hundreds of technological newcomers who lack government work experience but have mysterious connections with Musk are entering important government positions through special channels. They can directly access confidential databases without going through regular security reviews.

What is particularly controversial is DOGE's penetration breakthrough in the fiscal payment center. This financial lifeline, which is in charge of social security payments, medical assistance, civil servant salaries and corporate subsidies across the United States, has always been run by professional finance officials. However, the DOGE team recently broke through traditional constraints and not only obtained real-time monitoring permissions of the fiscal payment system, but also started to establish a "non-essential expenditure" screening mechanism to prepare for intelligent reductions on federal welfare projects.

Musk claimed on social media that there are a large amount of "illegal payments" in the federal government's daily expenses, including foreign aid, social welfare, academic research funds, etc., and DOGE's goal is to cut spending by $4 billion a day. On February 6, DOGE issued a statement saying that 78 contracts in the DEI, non-performing assets, media and consulting categories were terminated, including a "groundwater exploration and assessment of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania". The total savings were approximately US$110 million.

Of course, there are also some ridiculous changes, especially in gender issues that are generally incomprehensible to Chinese people. On February 6, DOGE official tweeted that the "Social Security Administration has terminated the contract for the "Gender X Initiative Mark" and removed all content involving gender ideology from the public-facing app. This saves more than $1 million and is in line with the president's executive order" (pictured below).

In the picture, the change of the URL involved in the Social Security Online Application Page has been adjusted to "/sex" instead of "/gender". Although the wording of the application form itself has not changed, it is still "What is your gender?" and offers "male" and "female" options, the official has shifted from "gender" to "physiological gender" in terms of terms. )”, does not recognize the gender of psychological identity. This is in line with an executive order signed by Trump on January 20, 2025, titled Defend Women from Gender Ideological Extremism and Restore the Biological Truth of the Federal Government. The order defines gender as a duality between men and women, requires federal agencies to use "gender" instead of "gender identity", stop funding of gender-confirmed care, and prohibits transgender people from using gender in federally funded single-gender facilities based on their gender in federally funded single-gender facilities Identify the use of corresponding facilities.

 Image source: NEW YORK POST, Trump made a statement saying that he only supports two genders, male and female

As DOGE gradually penetrates into the core of government agencies, the balance of power has become increasingly tilted. In internal communication, civil servants were told they had to accept “government efficiency reforms” or could be at risk of firing or being transferred to marginal positions. Some employees in the Treasury Department even received warning emails that their positions could be removed. Meanwhile, Musk mocked government workers on social media, calling them "lazy" and encouraging them to quit their jobs, suggesting that only those who "willing to adapt to the new system" can remain.

Musk's plan goes far beyond cutting spending and cleaning up officials. His goal is to build a completely new government model—a governance system led by technology entrepreneurs and administrative decision-making assisted by algorithms and artificial intelligence. He has assigned a team of former Tesla, xAI, SpaceX employees to start developing government management artificial intelligence to automatically review budgets, approve projects and analyze policy implementation effects in the future.

In the next step of action, DOGE is considering administrative disbanding the U.S. Department of Education. Officials have discussed an executive order that would revoke all functions of the U.S. Department of Education that are not explicitly included in the regulations, or transfer certain functions to other departments. It is worth mentioning that Trump mentioned in an interview with Musk in August last year that if he is re-elected as US president, the U.S. Department of Education will be closed.

A power crisis that tear apart American politics?

As DOGE's influence swept the political arena like a storm, the voices of opponents also rose.

The sudden closure of USAID has not only caused waves in the United States, but also caused widespread concerns in the international community. The agency manages a huge amount of about US$40 billion a year, covering more than 100 countries around the world, covering multiple fields such as humanitarian assistance, development support and health projects. Its sudden shutdown has left many countries and aid organizations without assistance, and some emergency aid projects are even at risk of disruption.

Meanwhile, as soon as Finance Minister Scott Becent took office, he handed over access to payment system data to Musk and his DOGE team. The move has sparked widespread controversy, with critics pointing out that it could lead to the exposure of sensitive information from tens of millions of citizens and businesses, endangering the financial security of Americans, and even threatening the stability of national infrastructure and personal privacy.

DOGE has unauthorized control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Affairs Administration (GSA) without proper review or authorization. The legality and competence of its series of personnel appointments have also quickly aroused doubts and criticism from the outside world. Generally speaking, the formulation of federal policies requires layers of approval within government agencies, and ultimately jointly decided by cabinet members and the president. However, Musk and his core team bypassed the process and formed an informal decision-making group led by tech elites, entrepreneurs and young engineers.

In response, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer announced that he would work with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries to propose legislation to resist DOGE's "illegal intervention." Meanwhile, multiple lawsuits against Musk have been filed in federal court, allegations include DOGE officials’ unauthorized access to confidential information, violations of government procurement regulations, and abuse of executive orders to cut federal spending.

 Image source: TVBS NEWS, Democrats oppose Musk\'s reforms

On February 6, local time, the U.S. Department of Efficiency (DOGE) led by Musk suffered a setback - Federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a temporary ban, prohibiting the Treasury Department from providing data from its payment system to outsiders. Therefore, Musk himself will not be able to review the data retrieved from the payment system.

The misfortune never comes in singularity, and a 25-year-old programmer at DOGE, Marko Elez, suddenly resigned after being found to have posted racist comments in his dormant social media account hours after he was found to have posted racist comments in his dormant social media account.

Behind Musk's strong actions, President Trump's strong support and trust are inseparable. In the White House, Musk not only owns an independent office, but also frequently goes to and from senior official meetings. Trump has also publicly stated on many occasions that he is "full of confidence in Musk's decision". In terms of how the government operates, Musk tried to abandon the traditional bureaucracy and instead adopt an efficient model similar to Silicon Valley enterprises. Many senior government officials expressed concerns that such reforms could lead to excessive concentration of power in the hands of private capital, undermining government transparency and accountability mechanisms. But under Trump's protection, despite some obstacles, Musk's pace of reform is still unstoppable.

Dramatic reforms are always a war without gunpowder, which may establish a subversion of the global government management model and may also become a victim of the power struggle. If the Democratic opposition gradually grows, or the judicial system has a strong opposition, the DOGE reforms may slow down for some reason. However, according to current efficiency, Musk's moves faster than the traditional administrative system that is too big to lose. A technology-led and efficient-oriented "enterprise" government is being shaped. Is this adventure between Musk and six young people a genius innovation or a dangerous game? This answer can only wait for time verification.