One of the biggest stories of 2025 is Elon Musk, the world's richest man, remaking the U.S. government. His power stems from an executive order signed by President Trump that created the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a temporary government organization whose goal is to maximize government efficiency and productivity by modernizing federal technology and software. Musk is the leader of DOGE and plans to use the department to cut $2 trillion in government spending, about 30% of the federal budget, in a few years’ time, Fortune has reported. But who is Musk relying on to carry out DOGE's tasks—some of which are controversial?
You can see a list of names below but, as usual, Musk is leaning on top lieutenant Steve Davis to help run DOGE along with Brad Smith, a health care executive who founded Russell Street Ventures. (Vivek Ramaswamy, the technology entrepreneur who was supposed to co-lead DOGE, is out and running for governor of Ohio.)
Fortune's list is not all encompassing. The people associated with DOGE are ever-changing and new execs pop up every day. Several venture capitalists are involved with or advising DOGE including A16z’s Marc Andreessen and Shaun Maguire, a partner of Sequoia Capital. Musk has also unleashed an army of young engineers, who we respectfully call the "nerd squad," who, along with more senior staff, have helped take control of several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, General Services Administration, and the Treasury Department’s payment system.
Like many Musk companies, DOGE and the White House were not forthcoming with information and did not respond to our requests for comment. Fortune relied on news reports, government documents and filings, as well as social media posts including LinkedIn and X, to compile its list of executives. We attempted to contact everyone. Scroll further below to see a list of power players at Musk's six companies.
View this interactive chart on Fortune.com
Read more:
- The top power players at SpaceX, Elon Musk's space tech company
- The top power players at X, Elon Musk's social media company
- The top power players at Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain tech startup
- The top power players at Elon Musk's OpenAI competitor, xAI
- The top power players at Elon Musk's tunnel firm The Boring Company
- The top power players at Tesla, the biggest of Elon Musk’s six companies
