Elon Musk has rapidly gained control over two U.S. government agencies, enabling him to exert unprecedented influence over America's 2.2 million-member federal workforce. Musk, acting as President Trump's cost-cutting initiative, has appointed teams of former and current employees of Tesla and SpaceX to oversee agencies like USAID and the General Services Administration. This move has sparked panic among government workers, public protests, and legal challenges, raising concerns about the centralization of power and lack of transparency in the process.
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks during a rally on the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump 's second Presidential term, inside Capital One, in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
Musk's actions have fostered a wave of panic among government workers and public protests in Washington and at times have threatened to overshadow Trump's own agenda. "Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval, and we'll give him the approval, where appropriate; where not appropriate, we won't. But he reports in."
Musk and his DOGE lieutenants have taken over the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration along with their computer systems. Michael Linden, a senior official during the administration of former President Joe Biden at the Office of Management and Budget, a powerful agency that oversees the federal budget, said the access by Musk's aides to payment systems gives them extraordinary potential power.
Fear is gripping many civil servants, and they have taken to Reddit, Signal and Facebook to report on what is going on inside their agencies and discuss how to respond. They also warn that DOGE personnel are watermarking and otherwise embedding identifiers like additional spacing in emails to track down suspected leakers.
ELON MUSK GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING DONALD TRUMP USAID FEDERAL AGENCIES
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