WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The new , President 鈥檚 special commission tasked with slashing federal spending, has formally joined the government whose size it is supposed to help shrink.
The parade of executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office included one renaming the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service. It further directed that DOGE be established within the Executive Office of the President.
The Digital Service was created by President in 2014 to modernize the government's approach to technology. Its chief original mission was to that plagued the rollout of HealthCare.gov, the site associated with Obama's signature health care law, which Trump has spent most of his .
Here's a look at what becoming part of the government might mean for DOGE:
A vow to cut billions of dollars
When he announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency in November, Trump said it would 鈥減rovide advice and guidance from outside of government.鈥�
DOGE was originally headed by billionaire Tesla CEO and former Republican presidential candidate , who jointly cut billions from the federal budget and usher in 鈥渕ass headcount reductions across the federal bureaucracy."
But Ramaswamy DOGE this week as he mulls a run for governor of Ohio.
Website refers to people's vote 鈥榝or major reform鈥�
A government website, , has been created to accompany @DOGE on X, the social media platform that Musk owns.
The webpage has a message describing it as 鈥渁n official website" of the U.S. government. Over a black background below that, white lettering reads 鈥淒epartment of Government Efficiency鈥� and 鈥淭he people voted for major reform.鈥�
The site has cycled through different memes since it went live. Those include one with a DOGE logo featuring a cheerful cartoon dog with an American flag, and another with the image of the cryptocurrency dogecoin 鈥� complete with its , Kabosu, a Shiba Inu dog who died in Japan last May.
Making the new entity part of the government could allow it to more easily access information across agencies. The agency can also potentially do much of its work behind closed doors, even as some regulations on governmental disclosure will persist.
For instance, the Executive Office of the President is generally not subject to many Freedom of Information Act requirements. But it is covered by the , which means its records must be maintained.
Legal challenges have been made
Just how public DOGE might have to be could get an early test.
A lawsuit filed in federal court moments after Trump took office alleged that, by already operating in the months leading up to the start of the administration, DOGE violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act. That's a 1972 measure mandating that advisory and other private committees in the executive branch follow public disclosure rules on staffing and their activities.
The groups behind that lawsuit, which include good government advocates and watchdog organizations, are now reviewing Trump's order integrating DOGE into the government.
鈥淭he way it has been operating was under a shroud of secrecy with a number of concerns," said Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that often challenged the first Trump administration in court and is serving as counsel to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. 鈥淚t continues to have a range of legal problems.鈥�
Some employees may be temporary
As part of his executive order, Trump also established a temporary organization within DOGE that expires on July 4.
Creating such an entity may make it easier to hire temporary employees or to enlist volunteers. They likely won't be subject to the same ethics and transparency requirements that apply to normal federal employees. Still, federal law generally dictates that such workers, and even those donating their time, adhere to some rules on conflict of interest.
Musk has already suggested that volunteers will be a big part of DOGE. He posted on X in November that the agency was looking for 鈥渟uper high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week鈥� while suggesting that some positions would be unpaid.
Implications for Musk
Trump's order makes no mention of Musk personally. Now that DOGE is part of the government, though, the billionaire entrepreneur's association with it means he federal conflict-of-interest laws unless he divests from his businesses or recuses himself from government matters involving them. The definition of what might necessitate recusal is murky, however.
One way to achieve more leeway in that area, as well as to potentially shield himself from some federal transparency and disclosure guidelines, is if Musk joins the federal workforce as a 鈥渟pecial government employee鈥� 鈥� or someone who can be appointed to a federal position for up to 130 days. But the new administration hasn't yet said if Musk will formally join the government as part of his work on DOGE.
Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said doing that would not erase all ethics and disclosure requirements, but it could change how some are applied.
鈥淪o much is still unknown," said Bookbinder, whose group is among those suing the Trump administration over DOGE. "I think that really is a key point: They have now put out this order. But what they haven鈥檛 really done is to clarify how this is going to work.鈥�
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
