After cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts, what strange government departments have Musk's DOGE discovered?

Author: Penny, BlockBeats

On February 17, Musk posted a sarcastic article: "According to the Social Security Database, these are the number of people of each age group whose death field is set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real, and there are a lot of vampires who are collecting society. The guarantee fund. "And the picture is as follows. The picture shows that there are currently more than 2,000 elderly people over 200 in the United States receiving social security funds, among which the "highest" one is actually in their 360s. Obviously, this is a fraud to obtain security funds. The Ministry of Efficiency of the Government is currently intervening in the investigation of the matter.

Since the new US President Trump appointed Elon Musk to lead the "Director of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) in January 2025, this reform move to transform government institutions with a corporate mindset has quickly attracted global attention. During the World Government Summit from February 11 to 13, Musk was asked about the mission of the Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying that government efficiency reform is like corporate transformation, but is much larger in scale. He took his Twitter as an example and pointed out that 80% of the manpower was cut during the reform process, but through technological improvement, he achieved achievements that had only been achieved in the past five years within one year. Through the dynamics and public information of the official Twitter account "DOGE", the DOGE team used radical means to promote government cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Its measures have not only brought significant results but also caused controversy.

Here is a review of the recent key actions of Musk's Ministry of Efficiency:

On February 11, the Ministry of Agriculture terminated 18 contracts, totaling approximately US$9 million; the Ministry of Education terminated 29 DEI training grants totaling US$101 million, and terminated 89 contracts worth US$881 million;

On February 13, the Ministry of Education cancelled unnecessary expenditure contracts totaling $9 million; EPA canceled 3 DEI contracts, saving $45 million; in addition, 58 contracts were cancelled, saving more than $150 million, involving the media, categories such as DEI and consulting;

On February 14, 167 programs were cancelled, saving about $115 million; the Ministry of Education terminated funding for four "equal aid centers" totaling $33 million; the Biden-era approach to the climate justice league $50 million in environmental justice grants, which the coalition believes “climate justice is achieved through free Palestine”;

On February 15, 586 contracts of 10 institutions were terminated, with a cap value of US$2.1 billion and a savings of US$445 million have been secured; the Ministry of Education terminated 70 DEI training grants totaling US$373 million; and 9 cancelled Wasted EPA DEI and environmental justice contracts, saving about $60 million; recovering $1.9 billion of funds misappropriated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during Biden's tenure, which now can be used for other purposes;

On February 16, DOGE canceled a series of foreign aid contracts totaling US$729 million, including some off-the-scenes projects:

$10 million was provided for "Mozambique's circumcision surgery";

Provided $9.7 million to the University of California, Berkeley to cultivate “a group of Cambodian youth with entrepreneurial drive skills”;

Allocation of US$486 million to the “Election and Political Process Strengthening Coalition”, of which US$22 million is spent on the “Inclusive and Participatory Political Process” in Moldova and US$21 million is spent on voter turnout in India;

$29 million is used to “strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh”;

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In addition to the above-mentioned large-scale budget reduction, Musk's Ministry of Government Efficiency has also been streamlining government departments and intervening in auditing the government departments' financial system. This has become two ways Musk is gradually approaching the center of rights, and has also caused great success in American society. dispute.

Massive layoffs extend to key public sectors, raising concerns about

social services

According to CCTV News reporters, as of February 16, more than 9,500 people have been fired by Trump and Musk. On February 16, local time, an internal email from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed that the original plan to lay off 1,500 people and adjust them to 1,165, and the affected employees will be suspended from the 17th. This adjustment is believed to be related to pressure on public health services, but the specific abolition standards have not been disclosed, which has raised questions about the continuity of medical research. In addition, several departments of the US President also announced the number of layoffs and layoff plans on the same day:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it has fired 388 employees;

Probationary staff at two USDA research institutions have also been fired, but it is unclear how many staff members have been affected by the sack;

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have nearly 1,300 probationary employees forced to leave, accounting for about one-tenth of the agency's total;

The IRS is preparing to fire thousands of employees as early as next week;

The U.S. Forestry Service will fire about 3,400 new employees;

The National Park Service will scrap about 1,000 positions;

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Such a large-scale layoff plan has caused an uproar in the United States. The Democratic Party made sharp criticisms of this, and the people also took to the streets and launched many protests. The personnel changes in the public sector are directly related to the quality of life of the people and the stable development of society.

Source: YouTube Channel TVBS

War for sensitive data: Taxpayer privacy and national security dispute

The Washington Post disclosed on February 17 that the DOGE team requested access to IRS taxpayer information, claiming to be used to audit government spending efficiency, but did not specify the scope of data use. The move sparked strong opposition from privacy advocates and Democratic lawmakers, saying it could abuse data or threaten citizens' privacy.

Although the Ministry of Finance claimed that DOGE only has "read-only" authority, several government employee unions did not buy it and directly sued the Ministry of Finance, accusing it of illegally opening access to the payment system to Musk's team. Previously, the DOGE team had analyzed sensitive data from the Ministry of Education through AI, which undoubtedly increased concerns about the lack of data security protocols. Data security is no small matter, especially sensitive information involving government departments and the public. Once a loophole occurs, it may trigger a trust crisis.

In this battle for sensitive data, DOGE's radical experiment has embarked on a path of no return. If successful, it may provide a brand new idea and model for global government reform and become a reference example. But if it fails, the United States will undoubtedly fall into the quagmire of political division and a crisis of social trust. Just as Musk said on Twitter: "Either let the government operate like a technology company or be eliminated." But in this risky experiment, it is still unknown whether the US government can find the right direction and achieve efficient operation. The whole world is waiting to see how this storm will end in the end.

Recent events show that DOGE's reform has shifted from the initial "cutting contracts and laying off departments" to deep waters: touching on national security data, core public services and party games. Although Musk's Silicon Valley-style "subversion" accelerates the process, it also intensifies constitutional conflicts and social conflicts. If efficiency and credibility cannot be balanced, this experiment may become the most controversial chapter in the history of the American bureaucracy.