Elon Musk's DOGE takeover is reportedly being spearheaded by young college grads

A new WIREDreport has pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and the picture it paints is… troubling. According to the report, the department is being staffed by a crew of fresh-out-of-college hires — many with zero prior government experience. In fact, at least one of them is stillin college.

These Musk loyalists, including newly appointed Office of Personnel Management Chief of Staff Amanda Scales, have played a key role in his ongoing efforts to expand influence across multiple federal agencies.

The investigation also found a common thread linking a few of these young recruits: billionaire Peter Thiel. Some of them have connections to the tech mogul's fellowship program, with his influence in the libertarian-leaning tech and political world having grown in recent years.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's DOGE team attempt takeover of USAID

While the DOGE executive order signed by Donald Trump technically limits Musk’s authority to the U.S. Digital Service, several of his allies — among them these young, inexperienced software engineers — have secured pivotal roles within the OPM and the General Services Administration. The latter is responsible for the construction, management, and preservation of federal buildings.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

The WIREDreport identified six young men, aged 19 to 24, who have been listed in internal OPM documents as either "experts" or "special advisors" to the agency's director. The engineers — Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran — previously served as interns for Musk or big tech companies like Meta before being fast-tracked unvetted into government roles.

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on Meta's submission to Trump

Despite their limited experience, documents obtained by WIREDreveal that these individuals have been granted official U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) emails and A-suite level clearance. This access not only allows them to work on the top floor of the GSA but also grants them entry to the agency’s sensitive information and IT systems.

According to anonymous sources who spoke with WIRED, Edward Coristine — who only recently graduated high school and is now a freshman at Northeastern University — has already been sitting in on calls where GSA employees had to "go over code they had written and justify their jobs."

---

Related Stories

---

• [Update] Elon Musk shuts down USAID, calls it a 'ball of worms'
• Metadata on U.S. government memos reveals authors linked to Project 2025
• DOGE officially announced. How the Elon Musk-led department will work
• Trump appoints Elon Musk to DOGE, a new U.S. government department
• Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on Meta's submission to Trump

This latest revelation adds to the growing concerns surrounding Musk’s so-called "budget cuts," which increasingly look more like a power grab. The X and Tesla CEO has recently made moves to take control of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which oversees billions in foreign aid. Even more alarming, the unelected billionaire has now secured influence over the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems — the infrastructure responsible for managing the disbursement of the federal government’s massive $6 trillion budget.

While Musk and his allies insist they only have "read-only" access to the Treasury’s payment systems, the reality is unprecedented: an unelected group of unvetted tech operatives now wields direct influence over the U.S. government’s financial arteries.