Dog's moniker holds significant importance
The DOGE Service, now known as the U.S. Digital Service, under the leadership of Elon Musk, made headlines for its controversial approach to improving government efficiency.
Contrary to expectations, the DOGE team focused more on indiscriminate spending and staffing cuts in federal agencies, rather than addressing waste and fraud. Some of these measures were deliberately extreme, such as mass layoffs of federal employees, leading to a traumatizing experience for the federal workforce.
One of the most striking actions taken by the DOGE team was their attempt to unilaterally roll back government spending. However, their efforts often missed the mark, as they rarely found instances of genuine abuse in federal agencies.
The DOGE team also struggled to understand the complex database structure of organisations like the Social Security Administration, which hindered their ability to make meaningful changes.
Despite the controversy, the DOGE team claimed to have achieved significant savings, with a target of $150 billion by mid-May. However, the validity of these claims has been questioned, with many believing the savings to be dubious.
Elon Musk, in a recent announcement, stated that his leadership of DOGE is over. He expressed confidence that the efforts of the team would continue to grow in impact over time.
The negative impacts of DOGE's actions on the federal workforce are expected to be felt in both the short and long term. The name of the organisation, U.S. Department of Government Efficiency Service, ironically telegraphs a sense of redundancy and self-mockery, given the methods employed by the team.
It's worth noting that the DOGE team could have collaborated with the Government Accountability Office to address issues of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs. This could have resulted in a more effective and less damaging approach to improving government efficiency.
In the end, the chapter of Elon Musk's leadership at DOGE will likely go down in history as a period of chaos and upheaval within the federal government and its employees.
