Elon Musk and his DOGE operatives are now in charge of hiring at most federal agencies

With Elon Musk standing beside him in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday afternoon that puts each federal agency under the watchful eye of a DOGE "team lead," setting broad parameters for Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" to commence a "critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy."

The order requires agencies to develop a plan in consultation with the DOGE team leads to "reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition," with requirements to hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart; only functions related to law enforcement, immigration enforcement and public safety are exempt from the rule.

The DOGE team leads are also given approval powers over hiring and firing decisions at their respective agencies, with only the agency heads having the authority to override them.

Within 30 days, agencies are to submit their reports to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is headed by Project 2025 architect Russell Vought. According to the order, the reports must "discuss whether the agency or any of its subcomponents should be eliminated or consolidated."

Even before Trump issued the order, Musk and his team has been taking the axe to various government agencies he apparently considers wasteful, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects consumers from exploitative lenders and business practices; the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates the federal response to natural disasters; and the Department of Education, whose mandate includes prohibiting discrimination in public schools and colleges.

Other departments, such as the Pentagon, which accounts for 13% of the federal budget, remained largely untouched.

While the executive order formalizes a parallel overlay of the federal government in the form of Musk's DOGE, it still does not clearly define its legal status. Trump has long said that it would be an advisory committee placed outside the federal government and thus be exempt from the congressional approval process, but its new powers extend far beyond offering recommendations.