Elon Musk, an unelected “special government employee” and the world’s richest person, is operating with autonomy that “almost no one can control” as he oversees the Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump administration official told The New York Times.
Musk, the world’s richest man, and his team at DOGE have already acquired classified documents, gained access to financial systems with sensitive personal information and conducted “aggressive incursions” into half a dozen federal agencies during the first weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Times reported.
Now, even senior White House officials tell the Times they’re being left in the dark as Musk exercises his unchecked power. Several former and current federal officials even told the outlet they’re feeling a sense of helplessness.
This comes after reports emerged Monday indicating Trump isn’t closely monitoring the billionaire, entrusting him to do the “dirty work” and take the heat for their efforts to slash the federal budget and workforce.
Trump has claimed all of Musk’s actions must go through him first.
“Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval,” the president said Monday. “And we’ll give him the approval where appropriate, where not appropriate, we won’t.”
This weekend alone has demonstrated Musk’s wide-ranging power.
On Saturday, Musk and his team reportedly obtained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system. This means they also gained access to the Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems, according to the Associated Press. Then, on Sunday, two top U.S. Agency for International Development officials were revealed to be on leave after carrying out their legal obligation to block Musk’s team from viewing classified information because they did not have adequate security clearance.
Despite their efforts, Musk and his staffers ultimately gained access to the classified documents, which included intelligence reports.
“Having an unelected billionaire, with his own foreign debts and motives, raiding US classified information is a grave threat to national security,” Democrat and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on X. “This should not be a partisan issue.”
Musk then revealed early Monday his team is working to dismantle the agency entirely: “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone to some great parties. Did that instead.”
Musk’s DOGE also previously commandeered the Office of Personnel Management and have moved to terminate leases for government buildings managed by the General Services Administration, the Times reports.
Even the establishment of DOGE required the dismantling of another agency, with Trump ordering last month that it would take the place of the U.S. Digital Service.
Now, the Trump administration is poised to target yet another agency: the Department of Education. White House officials have discussed shutting down all department programs that aren't explicitly provided for by law and DOGE staffers have been inside the agency determining where to make cuts, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, experts are sounding the alarm.
“There is not one single entity holding Musk accountable,” historian Douglas Brinkley told the Times. “It’s a harbinger of the destruction of our basic institutions.”
“They have a very clear and specific agenda, which involves unilaterally cutting spending, particularly spending they perceive to be going to their ideological foes,” Nathan Tankus, research director of the Modern Money Network, wrote of DOGE in Rolling Stone.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
