Elon Musk's high-profile government initiative has officially ended, despite having eight months remaining on its original timeline.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had promised to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget before the billionaire seemingly reduced that target by half.
Although the mandate establishing DOGE was supposed to run until 4 July 2026, it has now been revealed that the department was dissolved much earlier than planned.
"That doesn't exist," replied Scott Kupor, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, after being asked about DOGE.
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Kupor explained that DOGE is no longer operating as a 'centralised entity,' with its former staff members reassigned to other positions within the administration.
Leading DOGE, Elon Musk regularly promoted the department's activities on his X platform and at one point wielded a chainsaw to announce his efforts to slash government jobs.
“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” the Tesla CEO said back in February, waving the tool above his head at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Over recent months, most DOGE members have either taken new jobs elsewhere in government or exited public service entirely, indicating major struggles within the organisation. Meanwhile, Kupor revealed to Reuters that the federal hiring freeze is also over.
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"There is no target around reductions anymore," he clarified, adding that the focus instead is on 'great service delivery with maximum efficiency.'
Following DOGE's establishment, Musk pledged to cut trillions from the US deficit through job cuts, funding reductions and other measures.
While the programme certainly impacted the government workforce, whether the SpaceX founder reached the targeted cuts was never fully confirmed.
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DOGE's website claims the initiative saved the US federal government $214 billion, while an estimated 200,000 federal employees were laid off by May this year.
"The principles of DOGE remain alive and well: deregulation; eliminating fraud, waste and abuse; re-shaping the federal workforce; making efficiency a first-class citizen, etc," Kupor wrote on X. "DOGE catalyzed these changes; the agencies along with @USOPM and @WHOMB will institutionalize them!"
Former department staff have moved into various other administrative positions in government, including the State Department, the White House budget office, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, was assigned by President Trump to improve the 'visual presentation' of government websites. To date, his design studio has created websites to recruit law enforcement officers for Washington, DC patrols and to promote the president's drug pricing programme.