Inside Elon Musk's New Role Ahead of Donald Trump's Return to Office

In a November 2024 statement, President-elect Donald Trump named Elon Musk — alongside Vivek Ramaswamy — to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

DOGE is not a proposed official agency but an advisory board which that will operate from outside government "to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."

Prior to the announcement, The Apprentice star proposed the creation of DOGE in early September as part of his new economic plans, with the SpaceX mogul agreeing to lead the board if he were to win the presidential election and return to the White House.

"I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans," Trump continued.

According to Trump, the commission's work will end on July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

DOGE — which appears to reference the 2013 Musk-favored cryptocurrency Dogecoin — will "become, potentially, 'The Manhattan Project' of our time," said Trump.

He added, "Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of 'DOGE' for a very long time."

"We will not go gently," Ramaswamy responded to the news about their appointment.

Meanwhile, Musk said, "This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!"

Retired Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré penned a December 2024 op-ed in which he pointed out Ramaswamy's previous statement regarding his concerns about Musk posing "national security risks" due to his business ties with China.

"In May 2023, Mr. Ramaswamy went so far as to publicly state, 'I have no reason to think Elon won’t jump like a circus monkey when Xi Jinpingcalls in the hour of need,' a reference to China’s leader," Honoré wrote. "Mr. Ramaswamy has since walked back his numerous public criticisms of Mr. Musk, but he was right to raise concerns."

He added, "Mr. Musk’s business ventures are heavily reliant on China. He borrowed at least $1.4 billion from banks controlled by the Chinese government to help build Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory, which was responsible for more than half of Tesla’s global deliveries in the third quarter of 2024. China does not tend to give things away. The country’s laws stipulate that the Communist Party can demand intelligence from any company doing business in China, in exchange for participating in the country’s markets."

Honoré pointed out that Musk's support in Trump's reelection "does not give the incoming White House the license to look the other way at the national security risks he may pose."

After receiving thousands of applications, DOGE said Musk and Ramaswamy would only review the top one percent of "super high IQ" applicants who are willing to work more than 80 hours per week.

In December, DOGE released a new call for applicants for those with finance, information technology and human resource backgrounds. It then opened additional positions but did not provide further details about the roles, including the required work experience.