When US President Donald Trump took office, the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, was appointed a "special civil servant". Heading the newly established Commission on Government Efficiency (DOGE), he was supposed to identify where the US government spends too much and where savings can be made.
From the very beginning, this configuration was criticized, the public ARD points out on the subject. First of all, because the "special civil servant" should not have a say in the allocation of finances that may affect his personal interests. Musk's company SpaceX receives funding from the US government, while "Tesla" is largely dependent on the decisions of regulators in the country. The car company is also being investigated by the state highway safety agency.
Musk monitors himself
According to the White House, the task of avoiding conflicts of interest has been taken on by a single person - Elon Musk. This means that he will also monitor himself, confirmed Trump's spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt. According to her, he adheres to all laws. According to former University of Maryland professor Donald Kettle, however, at least "this is unusual", ARD quotes him. For "Bloomberg" he said he knew of no other similar case in which someone had to decide whether he himself was in a conflict of interest.
Lawsuits have already been filed against Musk's committee. The reason: its employees were given access to the central payment system of the US Treasury Department. The unions' complaint says that this is illegal because it violates personal data protection regulations. A compromise was reached in court - for now, only two of Musk's subordinates have access to the system. They will be able to see the payments, but not change them, ARD explains.
"Cleaning up" of civil servants
This system controls payments for all civil servants, as well as for retired ones. It seems that Musk and his subordinates have decided to clean up the US administration, now that they already have access to employee compensation data. A few days ago, thousands of them received an offer to voluntarily leave in exchange for compensation - their full salary until September. Today (February 6) is the deadline given to them by Musk's team to decide whether to take up the offer.
While many government officials worry that this will hurt the United States - the offer has also been made to a large number of employees of national security agencies, others are determined not to "surrender”. A campaign has been launched on social networks in which government officials motivate each other not to accept Musk's offer.
In recent days, employees associated with DOGE have visited the offices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the "Washington Post" reported, citing five sources who requested anonymity. DOGE employees have also requested access to the payment and contracting systems at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees hundreds of billions of dollars in annual payments to health care providers, and appear to have gained access to at least some of those systems, the newspaper’s sources said.
Hundreds of union activists gathered outside the Labor Department headquarters, where Musk and his subordinates also began interfering Wednesday afternoon. The department manages vast amounts of sensitive data related to unemployment claims, health insurance plans, disability insurance, workplace safety investigations, wage fraud and child labor. It was unclear Wednesday which parts of the Labor Department and its data the DOGE employees were seeking access to. Protesters against the actions held signs that read "Hands Off Worker Data" and chanted "Elon Musk must go".
Distraction or silent coup
"This is a blatant power grab in line with what Trump's advisers have convinced him to do, which is to flood the space with as many unconstitutional activities as possible in the hope that they can get away with some or all of them," Ty Cobb, who worked as a White House lawyer during President Donald Trump's first term but is now critical of him, told The Washington Post.
New York Times columnist Ezra Klein recalls that this strategy was voiced by Trump's political advisor Steve Bannon. In 2019, he spoke of "flooding the space" with as many things as possible to distract from "other work". If too many things are happening at once, a quality opposition cannot be formed, at least not quickly, Klein writes.
In the third decade of the 21st century, power is more digital than physical, writes historian Timothy Snyder. Therefore, the activities of Musk and his DOGE committee are nothing more than a coup, Snyder believes. Musk was not elected by the American people to any government position and does not have a position that gives him the right to do what he is doing now or to gain access to the sensitive data of millions of Americans. All of this is illegal, the historian and author comments. "It is a coup also in terms of the goal pursued: the abolition of democratic practices and the violation of human rights,” writes Snyder.