The quasi-federal agency created by President Donald Trump and formerly led by billionaire Elon Musk to make significant cuts to the federal government appears to be no more. The Trump administration has indicated that the organization has been disbanded early, after cutting programs and employees across the federal government, leading to chaos and accusations of illegal activities. Even as the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to be felt across the United States and abroad, members of the organization are now concerned that their actions may come back to haunt them legally.

DOGE ‘doesn’t exist’ anymore, according to a Trump official

Reuters reported that DOGE has ended. Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, told the news agency, “That doesn’t exist,” when asked about DOGE. Kupor added that DOGE was no longer a “centralized entity.” Instead, some of its functions and offices have been absorbed by other agencies, including OPM and the newly created National Design Studio, and key DOGE personnel have been moved to other government agencies. Kupor also indicated an end to a hiring freeze that had been implemented across the federal government. The end of DOGE comes approximately eight months earlier than anticipated, with the Trump-issued executive order setting up the organization stipulating that it would continue until July 2026.

Months of program cuts and possibly illegal actions

DOGE, named after a popular internet meme, was initially to be led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, another prominent Trump supporter during the 2024 presidential campaign, to “dismantle government bureaucracy.” Although the organization operated with a lack of transparency that made its specific actions unclear, DOGE was a leading part of a process that eliminated thousands of federal jobs and claimed to cut billions of dollars from government spending. DOGE essentially dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, potentially endangering the lives of millions of people around the world who relied on USAID assistance. DOGE was responsible for disrupting important programs and was accused of illegal activities, including improperly accessing sensitive information of Americans through its audits of various agencies.

Musk stepped away from leading the organization to focus on his various businesses, such as Tesla, SpaceX and X, formerly Twitter. After Musk criticized the administration’s spending policies, the split with Trump became nasty, with Trump attacking Musk’s federal contracts and Musk accusing Trump of being named in the so-called “Epstein files,” an issue that has continued to dog the president throughout his current term. Since Musk’s departure, DOGE has operated chiefly under a lower profile. With the organization being ended and Musk no longer holding influence over Trump, some DOGE officials — many of them young recruits with little to no previous government experience or credentials — now appear to be worried that they could face criminal prosecution and other backlash for their activities.

DOGE was presented as a tool for holding the federal government accountable, yet the agency and its operatives acted for months with little oversight or transparency. Now, as the agency that was once at the center of the Trump agenda fades away, its agents may have to face the same degree of scrutiny they inflicted on others. Regardless of the fate of DOGE and its employees, however, the impact of the organization’s work continues to be felt across the United States and around the world.