In the first few minutes of the Trump presidency, Elon Musk’s programmers made a surprise incursion into a key personnel agency. Since then, DOGE programmers operating in the shadows have burrowed into systems across the government, resulting in thousands of layoffs. WSJ’s Scott Patterson explains how DOGE has entered vast parts of the federal bureaucracy. Further Reading: -Inside DOGE’s Clash With the Federal Workforce -DOGE Claims It Has Saved Billions. See Where. Further Listening: -Trump 2.0: The Musk-Trump Bromance -Inside USAID as Elon Musk and DOGE Ripped It Apart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is DOGE and how did it start?
At President Trump's first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, there was a familiar face standing up front wearing a black MAGA hat and a T-shirt that read tech support.
I actually just call myself a humble tech support here because this is actually, as crazy as it sounds, that is almost a literal description of the work that the Doge team is doing.
Elon Musk was there to tell the cabinet about the work that DOGE, or the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has been doing. He said they're helping to fix out-of-date computer systems as part of his goal to reduce the national deficit.
If we don't do this, America will go bankrupt. That's why it has to be done.
Whether or not that prediction is true, DOGE is moving fast to cut spending and slash the federal government.
shutting down USAID. The CFPB. About 5% of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are being let go. Already, more than 200 have been fired from FEMA, around 400 from the Federal Aviation Administration, and more than 1,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Given all that Doge has done in just a few weeks, the Wall Street Journal wanted to get inside exactly how this new pseudo-agency has been operating. And our colleagues found a scorched earth approach that is incredibly secretive, quickly takes control of government data, and that tests the limits of what's legal. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.
I'm Kate Leinbaugh. It's Friday, February 28th. Coming up on the show, behind the scenes of Doge's campaign to gut the federal government.
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Chapter 2: Who is behind the DOGE initiative?
Why was OPM the first agency that the Dozers wanted access to?
You know, if your goal was to reduce the size of the federal workforce, there'd be no better place because that is the human resources arm of the federal workforce.
And once they were in there, what did they do?
Their first project was putting together this mass email system. And, you know, I was told that some of these people, even before the inauguration, had met with people at OPM and asked about this. They asked, do you have a system where you can email the entire federal workforce?
The ultimate modern power, a mass email.
Yeah, 2.3 million people.
A few days later, Doge put that very powerful tool to work. It sent out a test email intended to hit every single employee in the federal government. Days later, another email went out, this time with a choice. Quit your job and get eight months of paid leave or keep your job but risk being fired.
That's why they went to OPM, was to use it as a sort of cudgel against the federal workforce to try to reduce the size of it, to get people to quit and to ultimately fire people as well.
How did they do it?
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