How many worked for DOGE? New data emerges, but many agencies stonewall

At least 206 people worked for the Department of Government Efficiency, but much remains unknown about the Trump administration’s government-overhaul effort because federal agencies refused to fully cooperate with a Congressionally-ordered inquest.

In a new report published on Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office said it was largely unable to determine whether DOGE employees completed required ethics training and paperwork. GAO looked specifically at employees who worked for DOGE in the Executive Office of the President or were detailed from EOP between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 31, 2026.

GAO identified 206 such people and that at least 128 of them had left by Jan. 31, 2026. 

At least 27 were special government employees who were limited to serving 130 days during any one-year period. One prominent SGE was Elon Musk, the former de facto head of DOGE, whose companies received billions of dollars in federal contracts during his government service. 

Investigators were not able to determine the appointment type, such as Schedule C political appointee or noncareer Senior Executive Service, for more than 150 of the personnel because many agencies did not provide the requested information. 

“This total includes the 127 [U.S. DOGE Service] employees who held titles as digital services experts or consultants within USDS,” according to the report. “Although USDS has stated that USDS positions last no more than 4 years, we were unable to determine whether these USDS employees or other personnel had held such time-limited appointments.”

In total, 10 agencies and the EOP did not respond to requests from GAO for records that these DOGE employees participated in ethics training and completed financial disclosure reports. 

“As a result, we are not able to determine the total number of DOGE personnel who held positions within EOP who received trainings or who completed financial disclosures at those 10 agencies or at EOP,” investigators wrote. 

Nine agencies, covering 64 DOGE employees, did submit information about whether the staffers did such training and reports. But GAO argued that much of the documentation was incomplete. For example, the Agriculture Department provided an “ethics-related presentation” for Trump appointees but didn’t offer evidence for when, or if, the DOGE staffers received the training. 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. 

While “the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization” terminated on July 4, pursuant to the executive order establishing it, GAO pointed out that the directive permanently renamed an existing White House office as the U.S. DOGE Service. 

“Since the EO does not call for the termination of the broader USDS entity, it is possible that USDS and personnel at federal agencies could continue to do work that advances some of these initiatives after the temporary organization’s termination,” investigators wrote. 

DOGE spearheaded many of the civil service reductions that took place last year, resulting in a decrease of more than 350,000 to the federal employee headcount. 

GAO in April reported that the Treasury Department and DOGE did not follow all security protocols with respect to granting access to government payment systems.