Trump taps Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy for new govt efficiency agency

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday the formation of a temporary agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, aimed at streamlining federal operations.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the initiative, which aligns with Trump’s vision to overhaul government bureaucracy.

In a statement, Trump emphasized the critical roles Musk and Ramaswamy will play in reducing regulatory red tape and wasteful expenditures, restructuring federal agencies, and implementing sweeping reforms. The initiative is described as central to Trump’s “Save America” agenda.

Trump noted that the two leaders might remain outside of formal government positions, serving as external advisors. “They will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government.”

In his own statement, Musk said the new agency “will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”

Trump, in his statement, set a deadline for their work, saying it would “conclude no later than July 4, 2026.”

“A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence,” Trump wrote. “I am confident they will succeed!”

The Trump campaign described the agency as “potentially, the ‘Manhattan Project’ of our time,” referencing the secret World War II program that was involved in developing the atomic bomb.

Musk was a major part of Trump’s reelection campaign effort, while Ramaswamy ran against Trump in the Republican primary before endorsing him.

The department’s acronym, DOGE, is also a dog meme that inspired Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency promoted by Musk that was created as a joke and is credited with being the first meme coin.

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. Because Musk and Ramaswamy would not be formal federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations.

Musk has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election.

The president-elect has often said he would give Musk a formal role overseeing a group akin to a blue-ribbon commission that would recommend ways to slash spending and make the federal government more efficient. Musk at one point suggested he could find more than $2 trillion in savings — nearly a third of total annual government spending.

Trump had made clear that Musk would likely not hold any kind of full-time position, given his other commitments.