Trump asks Musk to head new US government department
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that business magnates Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during his second term in the White House.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.
Musk was quoted in the statement as saying that “this will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”
The new department “will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” the statement read, referring to the WWII-era nuclear research program that allowed the US to build the world’s first atomic bomb.
Trump said Musk will lead DOGE while “working in conjunction” with Ramaswamy, without specifying their exact job titles in the new government agency.
In September, Trump promised to appoint Musk to a “government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government, and making recommendations for drastic reforms.”
Musk – the world’s richest man and the owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and X – endorsed Trump shortly after a failed assassination attempt in July, and actively campaigned for him during the months leading up to the election on November 5.
Shortly after the announcement on Tuesday, Musk wrote on X, “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”
The founder of the pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences, Ramaswamy sought the Republican Party’s nomination during the 2024 presidential election, but eventually dropped out and endorsed Trump.
