New Delhi: The much publicised Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has shut down with eight months left in its tenure, news agency Reuters reported.

While the Donald Trump administration has not explicitly announced the entity’s closure, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) told Reuters earlier this month that the Elon-Musk headed department had disbanded. “That [DOGE] doesn’t exist,” OPM director Scott Kupor said, adding that it was no longer a “centralised entity”. 

These are the first public comments from the Trump administration about DOGE, the report said.

The department, established with the aim of improving governance and curbing wasteful expenditures, was greatly publicised for its ‘radical’ pursuit of efficiency. In one instance, Musk brandished a chainsaw over his head and said, "This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy.”

As part of its mandate, DOGE had announced the cancellation of a series of programmes costing hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars. These changes included the dismantling of key organisations like the USAID, layoffs at federal agencies and redirection of their work based on Trump’s priorities. 

However, according to Reuters, many former DOGE officials are now involved in other roles in the Trump administration. Among them is Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who was tasked by Trump to beautify government websites. Gebbia now leads the National Design Studio – another recently launched department under the Trump administration.

While DOGE claimed to revolutionise public spending, independent experts have been unable to verify these claims as the details of its work were not available in the public domain.

While a formal announcement of the department’s demise is yet to be made, Trump himself has often referred to DOGE in the past tense while talking to reporters.

The department’s demise also brings an end to a government-wide hiring freeze, Kupor said, adding that there were no targets around reductions anymore.

DOGE's end has not come as a surprise since Musk's public feud with Trump over his “Big Beautiful Bill" that provided tax breaks at the cost of social benefits. Musk, while passing scathing remarks on the Bill, had said, "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination."

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