Who is currently overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)?

Many may speculate that Elon Musk, suggested by former President Trump to lead this initiative alongside Vivek Ramaswamy before Ramaswamy’s recent withdrawal, is at the helm.

However, when President Trump established this budget-focused office through an executive order on his first day in office, it did not specify who would serve as its “administrator.” The order states in Section 3(b): “There shall be a USDS Administrator established in the Executive Office of the President who shall report to the White House Chief of Staff,” referring to the United States Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is not a cabinet-level agency. Just last week, the White House did not respond to multiple inquiries seeking the identity of this administrator.

On Monday evening, a White House representative confirmed that “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.” This comment was made by Joshua Fisher in a declaration submitted to U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who is currently overseeing a lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys general against Mr. Musk and the DOGE initiative.

Mr. Fisher further clarified that Mr. Musk is “an employee in the White House Office” but “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service.”

Despite Mr. Trump frequently referring to Mr. Musk as the de facto leader of the DOGE initiative—highlighting him during a recent news conference—the project has remained cloaked in secrecy, contrary to Mr. Musk’s assertions that it is “maximally transparent.” The White House’s reluctance to disclose the name of the administrator contributes to this perception of opacity.

The DOGE initiative’s predecessor, the U.S. Digital Service, had publicly identifiable administrators, with the latest being Mina Hsiang.

Potential candidates for the role of DOGE administrator include Steve Davis, a long-time associate of Mr. Musk who has been managing day-to-day operations in Washington, and Brad Smith, a former Trump administration official closely tied to the activities of DOGE. A White House spokesperson did not provide any comments following Mr. Fisher’s declaration on Monday evening.

According to the executive order, the administrator holds significant authority, including assisting agency heads in selecting their DOGE team members and initiating a “Software Modernization Initiative” aimed at updating government technology. A subsequent executive order issued last week outlined that the DOGE administrator would receive monthly hiring updates from each federal agency and would be responsible for submitting a report to Mr. Trump within 240 days concerning the initiative’s implementation.

The identity of the individual tasked with writing that report remains unknown.