Only weeks into Donald Trump's second term in the White House, Doge (Department of Government Efficiency) has deeply penetrated the US state apparatus.
Tens of thousands have been laid off while Musk's axe has swung through, among other things, the finance department, the aid agency USAID, and OPM, the agency responsible for personnel issues within the state apparatus.
Very little has been known about Doge and its employees. Musk has, according to Rolling Stone, threatened retaliation against those who name his colleagues.
Domains in Russia
But now, among others, Business Insider has obtained a list of around 30 names of employees within the White House unit. The individuals are described as hardcore Musk loyalists, many of them young male engineers lacking previous experience of government assignments.
The youngest is 19-year-old Edward Coristine, who was identified in an investigation by Wired last weekend. He is said to be a dropout student who in a now-deleted LinkedIn profile called himself "Bigballs".
In recent years, Coristine is said to have founded several unclear companies, including one called Tesla.Sexy LLC with web domains registered in Russia. According to Wired, it is highly unlikely that he would have been approved in the background check that is usually done on individuals who gain access to secret government information – but which, according to American media, has not been done on Doge's employees.
Spreading Conspiracy Theories
Several of the names have worked or interned at one or more of Elon Musk's many companies. One of them is 23-year-old Luke Farritor, a former intern at Space X, described as a tech prodigy. Last year, he made headlines when he, with the help of AI, managed to decipher a 2,000-year-old papyrus roll buried under Vesuvius' eruption in 79.
Even 21-year-old Akash Bobba is described as a prodigy and a talented coder. He has previously interned at Meta and at Trump-allied tech billionaire Peter Thiel's analysis firm Palantir, writes Rolling Stone.
Other Doge employees create different kinds of headlines. 25-year-old Gavin Kliger, who according to The New York Times was the one who informed USAID employees that they did not need to return to the office, has shared right-wing extremist conspiracy theories and hate towards LGBTQ people on X. According to Forbes, he has also spread posts from rape-accused influencer Andrew Tate and called for the execution of undocumented migrants who commit crimes.
Doge (Department of Government Efficiency) was announced in November 2024, shortly after Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election.
Trump then stated that Doge would pave the way for "dismantling the state bureaucracy, drastically reducing unnecessary regulations, cutting back on wasteful spending, and restructuring federal agencies".
Doge is led by South African-born entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of, among others, X, Space X, and Tesla, and according to Forbes, the world's richest person. Musk's companies, several of which are contracted by state authorities in the US, have raised so far unanswered questions about conflicts of interest.
Despite its name, Doge is not a formal department but is described as a "temporary organization". President Donald Trump has previously stated that Doge's work should be completed by July 4, 2026, at the latest.
Source: USA Today, CBS News, the White House
