The acronym DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), which in Greek was rendered as the Government Efficiency Service, was that structure that at the beginning of 2025 summarized the “philosophy” of Donald Trump for cutting spending in the public sector and reforming federal services, with the ultimate goal of saving resources through cutting red tape.
In this new agency, which had the role of a unique ministry with governmental coordination capabilities, the role of the eccentric ultra-conservative tycoon and former close associate of Trump, who was its head, was key. Ten months later and with a constant deviation from the initial goals, the information that the ambitious project is “down the shutters” is increasing.
Deviations
Speaking to Reuters, the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Scott Cupor, announced the news of DOGE’s shutdown. Specifically, in his statements he stated that the DOGE “no longer exists” and that it does not function as a “central body” in the federal mechanism. The service’s account in X denied the publication, calling it “fake news”. But the news agency stands by its claims that DOGE has entered a process of disintegration. A development that, if confirmed, marks the ignominious end of a much-publicized initiative, whose work in no way lives up to initial expectations.
It is worth recalling that when Musk took over the reins of said service, he committed to savings of two billion dollars for the first year. Since then, the final goal has been revised down several times, with Musk’s final estimate putting the total fiscal benefits at $150 billion. But even this calculation was nowhere justified by the facts, since the claims of the newly created agency that it saved 52.8 billion. However, from the cross-checking of the official data, the website Politico was able to detect contracts amounting to 32.7 billion. Among all the others there were situations between fraud and comedy, such as the cancellation of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract, which was for eight million but appeared with … an extra zero (that’s eight billion).
DOGE’s action on the labor market is recorded as negative – at least in the medium term. The administration’s efforts to shrink the government workforce resulted in 317,000 layoffs of federal workers and contractors, according to OPM data.
Worse, the agency’s short life was accompanied by truly painful health consequences, such as the end of the Agency for International Development (USAID), which was founded by John F. Kennedy in 1961 and managed an annual budget of $42.8 billion, handling the lion’s share of global humanitarian aid, and serving as a valuable soft-pedaling tool for American power. Epidemiologist Brooke Nikos of Boston University estimates that the shutdown of USAID and the health programs it funds on a supranational scale is linked to the indirect death of 630,000 people.
Amateurism and concern
Another chilling aspect of DOGE’s action concerns the unimaginable amateurism of a staff charged – supposedly – with instilling a culture of professional consistency. The fact that service members gained access to payment systems related to Medicaid and Medicare programs or advised on the continuation of critical cancer treatments is indicative of the dangers that were being overlooked.
A more typical case is that of 19-year-old Edward Coristin (known by the nickname Big Balls), who was employed by the agency while having a history of leaking confidential corporate data. His beating by two of his peers was used by the White House as justification for the National Guard deployment in Washington, which was seen as the “first act” of the Trump administration’s crackdown on a string of Democratic-controlled major cities.
But beyond the dimension of the political treaty and any capitalization thereof, issues are raised that touch the core of the state’s operation. “The DOGE destroyed the federal government, making citizens lose their trust… No one knows what the agency’s employees studied, copied and stored,” notes the columnist of the American website Slate, Christina Coterucci, in a sharp tone, concluding: “It’s the end of a short, ugly story. But she leaves behind a dark legacy.”
