For the reason that first days of the Trump administration, Elon Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) has been all over the place within the federal authorities, shifting quick and breaking issues. In a matter of weeks, DOGE operatives have unfold throughout dozens of authorities companies as they’ve tried to terminate tens of hundreds of federal staff. With a lot deal with the place DOGE goes, WIRED needed to take a beat to take a look at the place they’ve come from and what which may inform us about how they’re excited about reshaping the federal authorities.
The large takeaway: Many on the DOGE crew are from Musk’s world. If Musk is America’s CEO, then DOGE has change into his Silicon Valley government department.
We’ve mapped out a non-exhaustive record of individuals affiliated with DOGE, together with making a searchable desk with every member, their company historical past, and the companies they’ve been linked to. Readers can verify that out, and click on by means of it, beneath. We plan to maintain updating this as we discover extra DOGE operatives or as recognized associates transfer to new companies.
We’re targeted on the brand new folks introduced in beneath the second Trump administration or immediately employed into companies—as Particular Authorities Workers (SGEs) or common staff—who’re working as members of DOGE groups. This will get a little bit tough as a result of there are technically two DOGEs established beneath the president’s government order. There’s the US DOGE Service (USDS), previously the US Digital Service, that’s a everlasting group. Then there’s the short-term USDS group, which wraps up on July 4, 2026, and thru which SGEs will be employed.
Right here’s what we’ve discovered:
The DOGE world, because it stands, appears to interrupt down into roughly three classes: former Trump officers, conservative attorneys, and imports from the Silicon Valley space (funders, founders, technologists, or folks linked to them). In that first class we discover folks like DOGE spokesperson Katie Miller, the spouse of White Home deputy chief of workers for coverage Stephen Miller. The 2 of them have been Musk’s guides to DC.
In that second class are folks like James Burnham and Austin Raynor, each former clerks for conservative Supreme Court docket justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, respectively. Jacob Altik, one other conservative lawyer on the DOGE squad, has been chosen to clerk for Gorsuch. Jeremy Lewin, who was a part of DOGE’s dismantling of the US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID), labored with Second Woman Usha Vance’s former legislation agency Munger, Tolles & Olson, a agency that has additionally represented Tesla.
Then, the largest throughline of all: Of these Silicon Valley imports, one of the vital clear themes throughout DOGE’s ranks is pretty apparent: a connection to Elon Musk. Forty-nine folks on our record have connections to Musk, his firms, or his larger community. This connection is most frequently by means of one in every of his allies or one in every of his firms. There are the plain folks like Steve Davis, president of Musk’s Boring Firm, who’ve adopted Musk throughout his varied ventures. (Davis beforehand labored at SpaceX and assisted Musk in his overhaul of X, previously Twitter.) Davis spearheaded the DOGE recruitment efforts earlier than inauguration day and has continued to play a pivotal function within the group. Equally, SpaceX worker Brian Bjelde, who’s now on the Workplace of Personnel Administration (OPM), additionally helped Musk downsize Twitter’s workers in 2022.
There are folks like most of the younger engineers WIRED first recognized who got the keys to totally different authorities companies, like Marko Elez, Luke Farritor, and Edward Coristine, who had been all interns or staff at one in every of Musk’s firms: SpaceX, Tesla, xAI, X, and Neuralink. (Musk has been concerned in others, however these are those he controls.)