DOGE disbanded: Elon Musk’s Cost-Cutting Project Quietly Ended Ahead of Schedule  

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been quietly disbanded with eight months left in its charter, according to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director. Director Scott Kupor told Reuters that DOGE—the sweeping cost-cutting effort led by billionaire Elon Musk that dominated the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term—“doesn’t exist,” adding that most of the office’s functions have been absorbed by OPM, the federal government’s human resources agency. Read More: Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington  Kuper said that DOGE is no longer the “centralized entity” it once was when Trump appointed Musk to lead the agency in January, the news agency reported on Sunday. Musk’s collaboration with the Trump Administration drew scrutiny for the access he was granted throughout the government in his role as a “special advisor,” and the wide-ranging impact of the cuts made to everything from foreign aid to Social Security. Musk and his team quickly began cutting federal grants, mass-firing federal workers, shuttering entire agencies, and canceling contracts. He positioned his staff throughout government agencies, seeking access to sensitive data in the name of making the government more “efficient.” For months, Musk reiterated his overarching goal of reducing the deficit by $1 trillion by September 30, before a very public feud with Trump over the President’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” led to a breakdown between the President and his previously favored advisor. By the time he departed at the end of May, Musk had not come close to achieving the savings he had promised. DOGE’s website claims it has saved $214 billion at the federal level, but multiple reports show the department inflated, rewrote, or overstated these savings. The White House did not respond to TIME’s request for comment. Since Musk’s departure from government, dozens of staffers—including the core leadership team—have followed the Tesla CEO out the door. In October, 45 staffers were still employed at DOGE, and the office remained open during the government shutdown, according to a memo released at the time. Many of those who remained have since taken on new roles across different departments within the executive branch. Some high-profile staffers joined Trump’s new National Design Studio, led by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. Others have taken roles as chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, as an official overseeing foreign assistance at the State Department, and as chief of the Office of Naval Research. Some of DOGE’s initiatives, including the government-wide hiring freeze, have also ended, according to Kupor’s interview with Reuters. The OPM did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.