While four-five youngsters of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are at the centre of a massive controversy, about 30 people work at the White House’s DOGE office including tech advisers, former Clarence Thomas clerk, a former McKinsey consultant. Not everyone is as your as 19-year-old Edward Coristine who also go by the name ‘Big Balls‘. Recently, Marko Elez resigned from DOGE after his problematic social media posts of the past surfaced in which he acknowledged his racism and called for normalizing Indian hate etc. This controversy raised questions over whether Elon Musk’s DOGE has senior, serious-minded people with proper background checks.
Business Insider and ProPublica reported that most of the staff are early-career professionals in their 20s and 30s with varied backgrounds in tech, finance, law and politics.
Here is the list of DOGE staff
Jacob Altik (32)
A lawyer, Altik is connected to the executive office of the president. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2021. Last year, he was selected to begin a clerkship for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in the 2025 term, which is set to begin this summer.
Anthony Armstrong (57)
A technology banker at Morgan Stanley, Armstrong worked on Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now X. He is connected to the Office of Personnel Management.
Riccardo Biasini (39)
An engineer and a former executive who has worked at two of Musk’s companies, the Boring Company and Tesla, Biasini is connected to the Office of Personnel Management.
Brian Bjelde (44)
A long-time SpaceX employee, Bjelde is volunteering at DOGE working at OPM to slash headcount. He previously worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The New York Times reported that Bjelde helped Musk cut staff at Twitter following its takeover.
Akash Bobba (21)
An Indian-origin graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Bobba worked as an intern at Meta, the social media company, and at Palantir, the software and data analytics firm that is a major defense contractor. Bobba is listed in personnel records as an “expert” at OPM, where he has reportedly been able to access internal databases.
James Burnham (41)
Former litigation partner at Jones Day and a high-ranking Justice Department and White House official from the first Trump administration, Burnham is in DOGE as a lawyer.
Nate Cavanaugh (28)
An entrepreneur, Cavanaugh has been interviewing staffers at the GSA as part of the DOGE team.
Edward Coristine (19)
An undergraduate student at Northeastern University, Coristine interned at Neuralink. He is one of the most discussed staff member as he’s the youngest and also because of his internet name ‘Big Balls’.
Steve Davis (45)
Davis has been a senior executive and close associate of Musk’s for over two decades, working with him at SpaceX, X and the Boring Company. He was one of the first people to be associated with the DOGE effort last year.
Marko Elez (25)
The most controversial staff, who worked as an engineer at X and Space X, Marko is now working at the Treasury Department.
Luke Farritor (23)
A former SpaceX intern, Luke Farritor works as an executive engineer at the HHS.
Stephanie Holmes (43)
A former lawyer with Jones Day, Holmes is running the human resources at DOGE,
Gautier Cole Killian (24)
Killian works at the EPA, according to agency data. His position is a federal detail, which typically allows government employees to transfer between agencies for temporary roles.
Gavin Kliger (25)
A software engineer, Lkiger is a senior adviser at OPM.
Keenan D Kmiec (45)
A lawyer, Kmiec is connection to the executive office of the president.
Tom Krause (47)
Krause is a part of DOGE’s efforts to gain access to sensitive federal payment systems.
Katie Miller (33)
Wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Katie Miller is the spokesperson of DOGE.
Justin Monroe (36)
A SpaceX information security employee, Monroe is working as an adviser within the office of the director of the FBI.
Nikil Rajpal (30)
Former Twitter employee, Rajpal is an “expert” for OPM.
Rachel Riley (33)
A former employee of McKinsey & Company, Rilet works as a senior adviser at HHS.
Michael Russo (67)
Russo is a top-ranking technology official at the SSA.
Amanda Scales (34)
A previous employee of xAI, Scales is part of OPM.
Thomas Shedd (28)
A software engineer at Tesla, Shedd is now connected the General Services Administration.
Brad Smith (42)
Smith served in a series of health-related policy roles during the first Trump administration. He is believed to be a friend of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Christopher Stanley (43)
An expert in security engineering, Stanley has a role at the White House.
Baris Akis, Nicole Hollander and Ethan Shaotran are other three names in Musk’s orbit.
