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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are starting to shape the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and they appear to be turning to Silicon Valley leaders for support.
Musk loyalists, including the president of The Boring Company, Steve Davis, and the private-equity executive Antonio Gracias, are involved in planning the department, The Washington Post reported. Both men also assisted Musk at various points during his takeover of Twitter, now X.
The report said notable Silicon Valley figures — including the Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, the investor Marc Andreessen, the hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick — were also involved in the department's early planning.
DOGE, a nod to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, which was based on a Shiba Inu dog meme, is also looking to recruit people for the department.
A post on the department's newly created X account on Thursday said: "We don't need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting."
"If that's you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants," it continued.
DOGE, headed by Musk and Ramaswamy, is set to be an advisory group outside the government. Under current law, Congress must approve most budget changes, limiting DOGE's power.
Musk has said he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget to make it more efficient — but it's still unclear how he plans to achieve this. The billionaire has said he plans to create a leaderboard displaying the "most insanely dumb" examples of government spending in an attempt to promote "maximum transparency" and allow the public to share feedback.
Musk said all the activities of DOGE would be published online in the name of transparency.
Representatives for Musk didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider made outside normal working hours.
