DOGE under Musk unites Trumpworld vets with tech industry giants©Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump has started announcing who will work at the Department of Government Efficiency.
Others, including Silicon Valley leaders, are reportedly working at the commission.
Two high profile DOGE staffers, including one-time co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy, have already left the group.

President Donald Trump has started to announce who will staff the Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting commission initially helmed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, and now led solely by Musk. In addition to significantly paring back the federal budget, DOGE initially said it would aim to roll back regulations and reform government agencies. In an executive order establishing the committee and bringing it inside the government, Trump narrowed its mission to modernizing federal technology systems, but DOGE’s scope in practice remains unclear.

In December, Musk and Ramaswamy shared some specifics on how DOGE will work, promising to staff the advisory board with “a lean team of small-government crusaders.” DOGE’s account on X has said it is hiring for a small number of full-time, salaried roles in engineering, HR, IT, and finance, though Musk previously said that employees will be unpaid. In addition to everyday Americans, titans of Silicon Valley are reportedly involved in the effort.

Though DOGE’s precise structure remains unclear, details of staffing are trickling out.

Staffing details were also sprinkled throughout Trump’s executive order, which said an “Agency Head” would lead the group and each federal department must create a four-person DOGE team. Musk hasn’t announced whether he’ll serve as DOGE’s official leader, nor who will staff the agency teams.

Here are the names to know so far of those who might be involved.

Representatives for Musk and Trump did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Samuel Corum/Getty Images© Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Elon Musk says he’s stepping back from the White House DOGE office in May.
Musk says it will allow him to focus more on Tesla.
Tesla has struggled amid the backlash to Musk’s service in President Donald Trump’s administration.

Elon Musk has announced he will step back from the White House DOGE office after spending three months trying to radically reshape the federal government and its workforce.

“Starting next month, I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla,” he said, “now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency” is done, Musk said in Tuesday’s earnings call.

He said he’ll continue to spend a day or two a week on government matters, “as long as it is useful,” and the president wants him to do so.

Musk’s announcement comes on the heels of Tesla’s disappointing quarterly earnings report Tuesday.

Under Musk’s unofficial leadership, DOGE has targeted a wide swath of federal agencies, including dismantling the US Agency for International Development, attempting to gain access to sensitive data and payment systems at the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department, and trying to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Musk has also helped Trump gut the federal workforce through buyout offers to government employees, mass firings of probationary workers, and downsizing of agencies like the National Institutes of Health.

Despite its large-scale targeting of federal agencies and workers, DOGE has not come close to its savings goals. Musk first promised that his sweeping DOGE cuts would save taxpayers $2 trillion, but later downgraded that to $1 trillion, and further again to $150 billion,

DOGE’s claimed savings have been riddled with mistakes and corrections, including removing $4 billion from its “Wall of Receipts” in March, dropping its real estate savings by $150 million later that month, and lowering its savings claims by over $9 billion over two days in February.

Musk’s involvement with DOGE was never meant to be permanent — as a “special government employee,” he is not allowed to serve more than 130 days in a 365-day period.

Under Trump’s original executive order, the DOGE office can run through July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the nation’s independence. It’s unclear what will happen with the initiative now given that many of DOGE’s top leaders are long-time Musk allies.

Correction: April 22, 2025 — A previous version of this story misstated Musk’s announcement regarding his DOGE role. He will be stepping back from DOGE, not leaving entirely.