US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named "great" Elon Musk and "American patriot" Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to clean up the federal bureaucracy.
In a statement, Trump said that the 53-year-old billionaire Musk and the 39-year-old former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance”, partnering with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.”
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies -- essential to the 'save America' movement."
He further said that DOGE - the acronym similar to the name of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin that Musk promotes - was "potentially 'The Manhattan Project' of our time".
This was in reference to the US's plan to build the atomic bomb that helped end World War Two.
He added that their work would conclude by July 4, 2026, adding that a smaller and more efficient government would be a "gift" to the country on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
In response to the announcement, Musk said, "This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people."
The world's richest man who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owns X tweeted that all actions of DOGE would posted online for maximum transparency.
"Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know! We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining," Musk posted.
Ramaswamy, the Indian-American tech entrepreneur who withdrew his presidential bid earlier this year and backed Trump in the race to the White House, said, "We will not go gently."
In another tweet, he said, "shut it down" -- a slogan he often used during his presidential campaign to call for the elimination of federal agencies.
Since Trump's historic win in the November 5 presidential election, the Indian-American entrepreneur has made several TV appearances during which he claimed to have “high impact” discussions on his future role in the administration.
Despite Trump's announcement, it was not immediately clear how the DOGE would operate. It could come under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which dictates how external groups that advise the government must operate and be accountable to the public.
Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets and entanglements to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work. Since Musk and Ramaswamy would not be formal federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations, reports The Associated Press.
The President-elect had proposed the creation of a government efficiency commission as part of a slate of new economic plans that he unveiled in early September.
At the time, he said Musk, who has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the November 5 presidential election, had agreed to lead it if he were to secure a return to the White House.
To this, the Tesla CEO responded by saying, "I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.".
At an election rally in September, Trump made clear that Musk would likely not hold any kind of full-time position, given his other commitments.
“I don’t think I can get him full-time because he’s a little bit busy sending rockets up and all the things he does. He said the waste in this country is crazy. And we’re going to get Elon Musk to be our cost cutter.”
Politicians have called for separate efficiency commissions before. Republican President Ronald Reagan established a similar body during his 1981-1989 term called the Grace Commission.
