Doge has not released any detailed account of who is working at the unofficial agency, and Musk, along with other staff, is technically a “special government employee”, which allows him and others to evade ethics and financial disclosures that would normally apply to government workers.
He was present on Saturday night at USAid when Doge staffers and agency security officials clashed over Musk’s team’s demands for access to restricted areas, multiple sources told the Guardian.
Elon Musk’s rapid attempt to defund and depopulate the federal government has thrown US politics into chaos while the billionaire’s so-called “department of government efficiency” seizes control of operations at key agencies.
As hundreds of employees were put on administrative leave at USAid, several sources told the Guardian that Musk was directing Doge’s day-to-day operations personally.
To undertake this unprecedented and potentially illegal gutting of public funding, Musk has assembled loyalists who largely lack government experience and who range from tech elites to Maga diehards, according to a review of the people publicly associated with Doge.
