Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead his latest creation, the Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump, expressing a desire for a smaller government, has said that the two “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”, and that the agency will be conducting a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government, and making recommendations for drastic reforms”.
Musk and Ramaswamy will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before”, reports the BBC.
Despite its name, the department will not be a government agency, though specifics of operation are of yet unclear. Elon Musk has already announced that he will document all of the department’s actions online. But if the organization is not federal, then employees are not required to disclose either their assets or entanglements.
Commentators have pointed out that Elon Musk will have an even greater deal of control than he has now, continuing to capitalize on AI and cryptocurrency and probably rewriting the existing rules and regulations, regardless of the fact that it won’t be a full-time position.
Meanwhile Ramaswamy is a very rich biotech entrepreneur with no government experience.
