Since #ElonMusk’s so-called #DOGE took over important govt #technology teams within the #GSA & what was formally known as the #USDS, around 200 technologists have either resigned or been fired, jeopardizing around a decade’s worth of work dedicated to everything from #PublicHealth to #passport applications.

The meeting was a potential turning point after the frenetic first weeks of #Trump’s 2nd term. It yielded the first significant indication that Trump is willing to put some limits on #Musk, whose efforts have become the subject of several lawsuits & prompted concerns from #Republican lawmakers, some of whom have complained directly to Trump.

The Millers had worked w/ #Musk in between #Trump’s terms, helping to guide his political spending behind the scenes. After the election, they became even more essential in helping him decode & navigate Trump’s world.

Musk also absorbed as much as he could about the budget process & the bureaucracy that he intended to dismantle from #RussVought, who served as dir of the powerful #OMB in Trump’s first term.

The operation would take over the #USDS, which had been housed within the #OMB [#RussVought], & would become a stand-alone entity in the executive office of the president. #Musk would NOT be named the #DOGE administrator, but rather an *adviser* to #Trump….

An advantage of this complicated structure was #secrecy. For all his talk about “#transparency,” Musk was obsessed w/confidentiality & fearful of #leaks.

The group included #Musk; #Ramaswamy, who was then #DOGE’s co-leader; the #billionaire #HowardLutnick, who was running #Trump’s transition & would become his #commerce secy; & a health care entrepreneur, Brad Smith, who had worked w/Trump’s son-in-law #JaredKushner…. [but more importantly] Smith was a close business associate of #AmyGleason, who had worked at one of his companies as a chief product officer.

…#Musk was elated by #Trump’s win, but he had done virtually no preparation for his new initiative. 2 days after the election, on Nov 7, Musk was…at Mar-a-Lago….He would spend much of the next 2 months there, staying at a $2,000-a-night cottage on the property.

In the days & weeks that followed, a tight circle began planning how to swiftly upend the bureaucracy, starting essentially from scratch.

But #Musk also quickly seeded the idea w/ #Trump that he could be more than just a campaign donor.

…By Sept 5, the [#DOGE] idea was announced as a central pillar of Trump’s economic proposals. In a speech at the Economic Club of NY, Trump …said he would create a government efficiency commission helmed by Musk. The effort, which Trump offered few details about at the time, would “save trillions of dollars,” he claimed.

At 3 pro-#Trump dinners organized by #Musk & the #billionaire investor #NelsonPeltz over the course of 2024, Musk touted the need for a smaller government but struggled to offer specific ideas.

At the time, he was infuriated by #Biden & what he saw as deliberate efforts by the admin to harm his businesses #Tesla & #SpaceX.

…In the months that followed, he would plow almost $300M into efforts to re-elect Trump.

A month into #Trump’s second term, #Musk & his crew of >40 now have about all the passwords they could ever need.

His swift success has been fueled by the president, who handed him the hazy assignment of remaking the #FederalGovernment shortly after the #billionaire endorsed him last summer. Flattered that Musk wanted to work with him, Trump gave him broad leeway to design a strategy & execute it, showing little interest in the details.

They would call it the US #DOGE Service, & they would not even have to change the initials.

They began their move on the #USDS earlier than has previously been reported, The NYT found, while Pres #Biden was STILL IN OFFICE — giving them the ability to operate on #Trump’s first day.

#Musk & his advisers — including Steve Davis, a cost cutter who worked w/him at X & other companies — did not want to create a commission, as past budget hawks had done. They wanted direct, insider #access to government systems. They realized they could use the #USDS office, whose staff had been focused on helping agencies fix #technology problems, to quickly penetrate the #FederalGovernment — & then decipher how to break it apart.

The plan for his #DOGE was mapped out in a series of closely held meetings in Palm Beach, FL, & through early #intelligence-gathering efforts in Washington.

Without ceding control of his companies, the richest man in the world has embedded his engineers & aides inside the government’s critical #digital #infrastructure, moving with a swiftness that has stunned #CivilServants.