Musk’s “sorrow”! Report says: There are still eight months left in the agreement, but DOGE “no longer exists.”

The star project once high-profilely led by Elon Musk, aiming to drastically cut down the size of the U.S. government, is ending ahead of schedule in an unexpected way.

The “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), which once symbolized the Trump administration’s determination for reform, has been quietly dissolved eight months before its legal mandate expired, marking a major setback for a much-watched political experiment.

According to a Reuters report on November 23, a senior Trump administration official has publicly confirmed the news for the first time. Scott Kupor, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), was asked about the current status of DOGE earlier this month and stated flatly: “That (agency) no longer exists.”

He added that DOGE is no longer a “centralized entity.” This remark quietly ends the project that Musk once promoted with a chainsaw to demonstrate his determination to “cut bureaucracy.”

DOGE’s dissolution stands in sharp contrast with its fanfare at launch and has quickly triggered political reactions.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis commented on social platform X: “DOGE fought the swamp, but the swamp won.” These words have clearly interpreted the end of DOGE as a symbolic failure.

Some commentators said, DeSantis was shaming Musk, blaming him for the failure.

Trump once launched an initiative to “drain the swamp” and subsequently established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In his 2025 joint congressional speech, Trump stated, “Any federal bureaucrat who resists this reform will be immediately dismissed. Because we will drain the swamp, it’s that simple. The era of rule by unelected bureaucrats is over.”

This change also brought actual policy shifts. One of DOGE’s hallmark policies, a government-wide hiring freeze, has ended, and its core team members have been transferred to new roles in other departments.

The Former Star Project Quietly Closes

DOGE’s end was not entirely without warning, though official confirmation was slow to arrive. According to an earlier executive order signed by Trump, DOGE’s mandate was supposed to last until July 2026. However, OPM Director Scott Kupor’s remarks mark the first public admission from the government side that the agency has been prematurely dissolved.

In fact, since this summer, Trump himself has often spoken of DOGE in the past tense at public events. Additionally, after a public dispute with Trump in May, Musk himself has left Washington. These signs all foretold the project’s fate.

White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in an email, “President Trump was given a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, and he will continue to actively fulfill this commitment.”

DOGE was boldly established at the start of Trump’s second term, aiming to rapidly shrink federal agencies, cut budgets, and pivot work focus to Trump’s priorities.

As its initial leader, Musk frequently promoted the department’s efforts on his social platform X, even once raising a chainsaw at a conservative political action conference, claiming it was ‘a chainsaw for bureaucracy,’ to demonstrate his resolve for reform.

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Savings Effect in Doubt, Core Policy Shift

Although DOGE claimed to have cut tens of billions of dollars in spending, outside financial experts generally believe this figure cannot be verified, as the department never provided detailed public accounts. Critics argue the project has delivered few measurable savings.

With DOGE’s dissolution, one of its core policies also ends. Kupor confirmed that the government-wide hiring freeze, once the hallmark of DOGE, has ended.

On his first day in office Trump banned federal agencies from hiring new staff, and later stipulated that for every four employees who leave, only one can be hired. Kupor said that now “there are no targets for layoffs.” This change signals a major reversal in government personnel policy.

Musk Steps Down, Team Members Scatter

With DOGE fading out, its core team members have also scattered to new roles across the government. According to documents and public information reviewed by Reuters, many DOGE functions have been taken over by OPM.

The most notable changes include:

• Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and former member of Musk’s DOGE team, now heads a new agency called the National Design Studio, which aims to beautify government websites.
• Former acting director of DOGE Amy Gleason formally became an advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in March.
• Zachary Terrell, who dealt with government health systems as part of the DOGE team, is now Chief Technology Officer at HHS.
• Jeremy Lewin, who helped Musk and the Trump administration restructure USAID, is now at the State Department overseeing foreign aid.

This redistribution of personnel shows that although DOGE no longer exists as an independent entity, the technical and management ideas of its team are being incorporated into the routine work of the federal government.

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