Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has been accused by a leading labor union of an “absolutely illegal” breach of federal regulations after posting a vague request for job applications.
The Trump administration’s much-vaunted but ill-defined program to reshape the federal government announced it was recruiting “full-time, salaried positions” for software engineers, information security engineers and “other technology professionals” on its official website.
The page was promoted by Musk on X, the social network he owns, and swiftly drew criticism from a prominent union leader.
“This is an application to apply for a corrupt organization to do corrupt things,” said Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents about 110,000 federal workers. “This is definitely against federal law if they’re using it as a way to actually give someone a job or deny someone a job. It’s absolutely illegal.”
Government vacancy announcements are typically required to include key information around pay, security requirements, qualifications, and the number of available roles, according to the office of personnel management.
The Doge page does not contain such details. It includes a brief paragraph explaining that it is looking to hire “world-class talent to work long hours identifying/eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse”, and a form to submit personal details. A checkbox indicates the roles are based in Washington DC, and available only to US citizens.
The office of personnel management declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Doge job posting, and allegations it violates federal laws on job postings.
While Doge was initially billed as an external advisory body, an executive order signed by Trump following his inauguration revealed the existing US Digital Service would be renamed as the US Doge Service and established in the president’s executive office.
Musk has been seen regularly in the White House since Trump’s return last week, including one reported sighting at 6.30am on a coffee run.
In an interview, Lenkart criticized Doge, and its claims of government inefficiency, especially given the unit’s apparent emphasis on the IT sector, which he noted plays a small, background role in the federal government.
“Doge is just an excuse,” he said. “It has nothing to do with government efficiency, or all the things they claim.”
Under the Obama administration, Lenkart served as executive director of the US Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The federal non-postal service civilian workforce has remained steady, fluctuating around 2 million workers in the executive branch since 1952 to 2024, he noted, despite the US population more than doubling during this time period.
Non-defense discretionary spending by the federal government hit a record low of 3.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019, rising in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic before dropping again to 3.3% in 2024.
“When you back away from all the nonsense that these people say that they’re here to start looking at it, you start thinking, well, what problem are they really solving?” said Lenkart.
He argued that Doge was an effort to defund and remove regulators for business interests and billionaires, such as Musk, who also runs Tesla, the electric carmaker; and SpaceX, the rocket and satellite business.
“Most of these billionaires don’t even pay taxes, so they’re not really worried about your or my tax dollars, and how efficient they are,” Lenkart claimed. “They’re just trying to get law enforcement and regulators out of the way.”
