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- Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency to cut federal spending and root out waste.
- Under Elon Musk, DOGE has already targeted a number of federal agencies, including USAID and the DoD.
- Here's a list of the government programs and agencies DOGE has gone after so far.
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has wasted little time sending his newly created DOGE office after federal agencies.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order officially creating DOGE. With billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk as its de facto leader, the group has taken swift action toward its stated goal of rooting out government fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
Here's a list of the agencies DOGE has targeted so far and other key initiatives from the new organization.
US Postal Service
Elon Musk has called for the privatization of the US Postal Service, and Trump has said he would consider merging the independent agency with the Commerce Department.
In a letter to Congress on March 13, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy committed to working with DOGE to make the agency more efficient, including cutting 10,000 jobs and eliminating billions of dollars from the budget. And in a March 17 follow-up letter, DeJoy further detailed USPS's plans to work with DOGE, including a review of the agency's real estate portfolio.
Days later, DeJoy announced in a statement that he would stepping down from his role effective immediately.
Postal worker unions — including the National Association of Letter Carriers, the American Postal Workers' Union, and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association — have been holding demonstrations around the country to protest cuts to and a potential dismantling of the USPS.
Social Security Administration
The Trump administration has sent DOGE to find fraud within the Social Security Administration, arguing that the agency sends out payments to dead Americans. A Business Insider analysis of recent SSA audits found that errors like overpaying beneficiaries and paying dead people amount to less than 1% of the SSA's total benefits payouts — far less than Trump and Musk have claimed.
The SSA — which manages Social Security benefits and payouts — has been the target of DOGE's sweeping reduction of the federal workforce, cuts that SSA workers have warned could delay payments to beneficiaries and hinder frontline workers' ability to handle claims and issue Social Security cards.
As part of the Trump administration's efforts to restructure the SSA, the agency banned its workers from reading the news on their work devices. One worker told BI that they sometimes need to access news sites to, for example, confirm deaths through obituaries, and without that ability, recipients' claims could be slowed down.
Under Trump, the SSA has also reduced its phone services to beneficiaries and added a new in-person ID requirement — both of which are expected to make customer service at the agency much worse.
Department of Defense
DOGE is now going after the Department of Defense, the oldest and largest government agency in the US, with a total budget of over $800 billion.
In early February, Trump said that he expected DOGE to "find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse" in the Pentagon. That includes what Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz has called the "absolute mess" of US shipbuilding.
DOGE posted on X on February 14 that it had begun looking into the DoD.
"Great kickoff with @DeptofDefense," the post said. "Looking forward to working together to safely save taxpayer dollars and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse."
Some DoD employees were included in a mass layoff of probationary workers across federal departments. The fired staffers' future remains uncertain as the Trump administration is fighting a federal judge's order to reinstate them.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on March 20 that, following DOGE's identification of what it considered wasteful spending at the department, the DoD would be terminating over $580 million in programs, contracts, and grants. That includes funding for a new human resources program, a grant to decarbonize emissions from Navy ships, and a grant to develop equitable machine learning models, Hegseth said.
Internal Revenue Service
DOGE has set its sights on the IRS.
The task force sought access to the Internal Revenue Service's data system that houses highly sensitive information about every taxpayer, nonprofit, and business in the country, The Washington Post reported on February 16.
The IRS considered granting DOGE broad access to its systems and data, including its Integrated Data Retrieval System, which lets IRS workers view and adjust taxpayer accounts and data, the Post reported.
But The White House later agreed to block DOGE's full access to the IRS's payment systems, instead granting read-only access of taxpayer data that has been anonymized, the Post reported on February 20, citing people familiar with the arrangement.
Before the agreement to make the data anonymous and read-only was reached, officials sounded alarm bells about the kind of access DOGE would have. Even within the IRS, access to this data is strictly monitored, and employees are prohibited form accessing their own files or those of their friends and family, according to the agency's employee handbook.
Democratic Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, a ranking member of the Committee on Finance, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a ranking member of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, wrote a letter to the IRS on February 17 urging DOGE to disclose the extent of its access to IRS systems.
The senators argued that giving DOGE access to sensitive taxpayer data raises "serious concerns that Elon Musk and his associates are seeking to weaponize government databases containing private bank records and other confidential information to target American citizens and businesses as part of a political agenda."
The IRS was also one of several federal agencies where thousands of probationary employees were fired en masse. The agency's enforcement of tax evasion could be hit especially hard by the cuts.
As a result, Treasury Department and IRS officials told The Washington Post that they're bracing for a sharp drop in revenue — about $500 billion.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health — the federal agency that funds and conducts medical research under the Department of Health and Human Services — announced in a directive on February 7 that it was cutting how much of its funding can be used for administrative overhead.
The NIH said it would be placing a 15% cap on "indirect costs" related to research projects, which includes things like personnel, facility maintenance, and equipment. The NIH said on X that this limit would save the agency $4 billion per year, "effective immediately."
After separate lawsuits from state attorneys general and organizations representing hospitals and research institutions, a federal judge temporarily blocked the funding cuts in February, and in March, extended that pause in a preliminary injunction.
The NIH has also been targeted by Trump and Musks's widespread staffing cuts across the federal workforce, with the agency losing over 1,100 staffers, according to an internal email obtained by Reuters. And NIH officials expect deeper cuts to come.
Federal worker layoffs
As part of Trump and Musk's promise to reduce the federal budget, the Trump administration has laid off thousands of probationary workers — typically, employees who have been in their roles for less than two years — from a wide swath of federal agencies.
That includes workers at the Forest Service, the Office of Personnel Management, Small Business Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Education, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Internal Revenue Service, Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
But on March 13, US District Judge William Alsup of California ruled that the Trump administration's mass firing of probationary workers at six federal agencies — the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and Treasury — had violated federal law around reductions in force and had not followed required procedures. Alsup ordered the affected employees to be rehired immediately.
Later that day, another federal judge, US District Judge James Bredar of Maryland, issued a similar but even more sweeping order, directing 18 federal agencies to rehire their probationary staffers.
The Department of the Interior has told BI that it is complying with the court's orders as it works through the appeals process. And the Trump administration has already asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that provides healthcare to more than 160 million Americans, said in a press release on February 5 that its officials were working with DOGE to find "opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources in line with meeting the goals of President Trump."
In response to a post containing a Wall Street Journal article about CMS collaborating with DOGE, Musk wrote on X, "Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening."
On February 12, a group of 32 Democratic Senators wrote a letter to Trump urging him and Musk to keep their "hands off Medicare or Medicaid."
"DOGE is invading CMS, posing immeasurable risks to Americans' health care," the letter reads. "DOGE representatives, with no training or expertise, could make unilateral, politically motivated decisions to target both beneficiaries and health care providers while blocking access to care and essential payments for services."
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA is also on DOGE's hit list.
While at the Commerce Space Conference in Washington DC on February 12, the space agency's acting administrator said that NASA was expecting a visit from DOGE.
"So we are a federal agency. We are going to have DOGE come. They are going to look — similarly to what they've done at other agencies — at our payments," said Janet Petro, in comments reported by Bloomberg.
On February 14, the space agency confirmed to Flying, an aviation-focused magazine, that DOGE staff were on-site to review its payments.
NASA has done quite a lot of business with Musk's own space company, SpaceX, amounting to around $14.5 billion in contracts between the two. Democratic Representatives have argued in letters to NASA that Musk's involvement is a dangerous conflict of interest.
Nevertheless, NASA has implemented a restructuring plan — including the shuttering of three departments amid a larger reduction-in-force —that it says puts the space agency in compliance with Trump's agenda and DOGE's plans.
Department of Education
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to shut down the Department of Education (ED).
And on March 20, Trump made moves on that plan, signing an executive order directing his new education secretary, Linda McMahon, to begin the process of eliminating the department.
Along with some GOP lawmakers, Trump has said that education should be handled at the state and local level, and that a federal agency isn't necessary. While Trump and McMahon are working to reduce the department's capacity, fully shutting it down requires congressional approval.
Prior to Trump's executive order, DOGE said in February that it had cancelled a number of ED contracts — including a "$4.6M contract to coordinate zoom and in-person meetings," a "$3.0M contract to write a report that showed that prior reports were not utilized by schools," and a "$1.4M contract to physically observe mailing and clerical operations."
The cost-cutting group also said in February that it had terminated 89 contracts at the ED, totaling $881 million.
DEI Initiatives
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order terminating federal roles, offices, and programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
And on January 31, just 11 days into its existence, DOGE announced it had terminated 104 government contracts related to DEI programs and initiatives.
DOGE said the cuts — spanning 30 agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Personnel Management, Environmental Protection Agency, and many more — created over $1 billion in savings.
Since Trump's anti-DEI directive, agencies across the federal government have been working to eliminate any programs, webpages, or jobs related to DEI. The Department of Defense, for example, has been scrubbing its website of photos, videos, and articles it considers DEI-related, including a page dedicated to Jackie Robinson, who helped break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, and an article about the highest-ranking Black Medal of Honor recipient. Both pages have since been restored to the DOD's website.
US Agency for International Development
One of DOGE'S first major targets was the US Agency for International Development, which funds humanitarian efforts around the world. As the world's largest provider of humanitarian aid, the US channeled nearly $32.5 billion through the agency in 2024, providing aid to countries like Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia.
In a post on X on February 3, Musk accused the agency of being a "criminal organization" and said he "spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper." Hours later, USAID workers were told to stay home from work, and within days, the agency announced that all direct hire personnel would be placed on leave globally, with a few exceptions.
Following a lawsuit from federal employee labor unions, a federal judge partially blocked Musk and Trump's attempted shutdown of USAID — which legal experts argue is illegal without approval from Congress. The judge's order temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing USAID workers on leave, first until February 14, and in another extension, until at least February 21.
But by the end of February, USAID workers were told to clear out their desks at the agency's Washington, DC headquarters after the Trump administration said it was ending a majority of the department's contracts.
On March 5, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid, allowing the release of nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funds.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio finally announced on March 10 that 83% of USAID's programs were being cancelled, and the remainder would be absorbed into the State Department.
Experts have warned shutting down USAID would make China more powerful on the world stage.
Federal worker buyout
As part of Musk and Trump's efforts to trim government spending and reduce the federal workforce, the Trump administration emailed a buyout offer to around 2 million government employees. The deferred resignation, sent by the Office of Personnel Management at the end of January, offered to pay employees their full salary and benefits through September, without the need to work during that time, in exchange for their resignation.
The offer was met with mass confusion, shock, and outrage from federal employees, many of whom questioned whether the government could actually promise to pay them through September with a looming government shutdown in March when current funding runs out.
The offer appeared to come straight out of Musk's playbook, right down to the title of the email sent to federal workers: "Fork in the Road."
After federal labor unions filed a lawsuit arguing that the offer is illegal, a federal judge twice extended the deadline for employees to accept the buyout, but ultimately ruled that it can proceed.
The offer finally closed on February 12, with 75,000 workers accepting the buyout, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
Federal Aviation Administration
Following the deadly American Airlines plane crash in Washington DC in January, Musk announced he would be going after the Federal Aviation Administration.
Days after the crash, Musk wrote on X that the FAA's "primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours," adding that, as a result, Trump gave the DOGE team his approval to "make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed Musk's role, saying the DOGE team was "going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system."
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas — who chairs the committee that oversees the FAA — said he's confident in Musk's ability to upgrade the FAA, adding that the American people should take "real comfort in his ability to navigate complicated technologies."
Not everyone has so much faith in Musk.
Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington argued in a letter to Duffy that, as the CEO of SpaceX, Musk has a clear conflict of interest that should prohibit his involvement with the FAA.
Last year, the FAA proposed fining SpaceX more than $600,000 for two occasions where the rocket company is said to have violated its launch licenses.
The FAA said in a statement to Business Insider on February 25 that it had begun testing out a SpaceX Starlink internet terminal at its facility in Atlantic City and two terminals at its "non-safety critical sites in Alaska."
On February 19, Duffy said on X he had enlisted SpaceX engineers "to help upgrade our aviation system." A few weeks later, his agency announced it was rolling out a number of upgrades to modernize the air-traffic control system.
Treasury Department
Trump said he granted Musk and his DOGE team access to the Treasury department's digital payments system, which controls trillions of dollars in payments to Americans — everything from Social Security benefits to tax refunds.
The move sparked criticism from Democratic lawmakers and federal workers' unions. The unions sued the Treasury Department, arguing that the agency had illegally granted Musk access to sensitive personal and financial information.
Trump defended Musk's access to the platform, telling reporters it was only so that DOGE could find additional areas to cut government waste.
"Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval, and we will give him the approval where appropriate," Trump said.
The Treasury Department later agreed to limit DOGE's access to the systems, while still allowing two Musk allies to have read-only access to the data. But in March, a federal judge indefinitely blocked DOGE from accessing personal identifying information at the Treasury Department, as well as at the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Trump has threatened to overhaul, or entirely scrap, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides aid to Americans following natural disasters like Hurricane Milton and the LA wildfires.
The president has called the agency, which employs more than 20,000 staff around the US, a "very big disappointment" that is "very bureaucratic," "very slow," and costs "a tremendous amount of money."
On February 10, Musk wrote on X that "FEMA betrayed the American people by diverting funds meant for natural disasters to pay for luxury hotels for illegal migrants."
But New York City officials said that FEMA had correctly allocated the funds, which were never part of a disaster relief grant and were not used on luxury hotels, as Musk had said, The New York Times reported.
Hours after Musk's post, FEMA's acting director, Cameron Hamilton, posted on X that the payments had been suspended and that the responsible personnel will be held accountable.
On February 11, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security announced that four FEMA officials had been fired in connection to the payments, including the agency's Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
On February 6, a group of Democratic lawmakers accused "unelected and unvetted associates of Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency" of targeting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NOAA is in charge of forecasting the weather, analyzing climate data, and tracking extreme weather events.
Senator Chris Van Hollen and Congressman Jamie Raskin, along with other Maryland Democrats, penned a letter alleging that DOGE bureaucrats had been visiting NOAA headquarters, housed within the Department of Commerce, with the intent to break up the agency and merge it with the Department of the Interior.
In their letter, the lawmakers urged the leaders of the US Department of Commerce, Howard Lutnick and Jeremy Pelter, to maintain the independence and integrity of the NOAA, as Lutnick had promised to do in his confirmation hearing.
The lawmakers argue that DOGE is illegally attacking NOAA without congressional approval, in an attempt to dismantle and privatize the agency which they say would rob American farmers, businesses, and citizens of crucial, life-saving services.
The Trump administration has already laid off hundreds of workers at NOAA, which meteorologists say will degrade weather forecasts and public safety.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Musk has repeatedly called for the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was established in 2011 after the Great Recession to oversee financial products and services offered to Americans. It seeks to protect Americans from financial scams and abusive practices, like excessive overdraft fees.
"CFPB RIP," Musk wrote on X on February 7 next to a tombstone emoji.
Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ordered the CFPB to halt most of its work and told the consumer watchdog agency to stop issuing "public communications of any type."
The CFPB has told staffers to "not perform any work tasks" while it shuts down its DC headquarters amid an uncertain future.
The agency followed up by sending termination notices to dozens of employees, some of whom had already accepted the buyout offer, sources familiar with the situation told CNBC.
The agency's first director, Richard Cordray, has warned that shuttering the CFPB would turn the consumer finance world into the "wild, wild west," adding that Musk's attempted shutdown is unethical and, with his plans to offer financial services through X, could be considered a conflict of interest.
Productivity email sent to federal employees
DOGE sent a mass email to federal workers on Saturday, February 22 asking them to provide five bullet points explaining what work tasks they had accomplished in the past week. They were given a Monday night deadline to respond, and if they didn't, Trump threatened that they could be "semi-fired" or "fired." While at first Musk said anyone who didn't respond would be terminated, he later changed course to say workers would be given another chance.
The "What did you do last week?" email, sent by the Office of Personnel Management, followed Trump's instruction to Musk to"get more aggressive" in reducing the size of the federal workforce.
In a post on X on February 24, Musk explained the email as "basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email."
The email caused mass confusion among federal workers, who received conflicting guidance from their superiors on whether to respond or not.
It's not yet clear how the differing guidance across federal agencies will be resolved, but Musk said on X that the "mess will get sorted out this week."
"Lot of people in for a rude awakening and strong dose of reality," his post continued. "They don't get it yet, but they will."
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