Billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President-elect Donald Trump said on November 12

According to the Guardian, Mr Trump has chosen Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy to lead an agency called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“Together, these two great Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut excess regulations, cut wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies,” Trump said.

Cutting government spending and moving toward more efficient government operations is what Mr. Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have been promoting during the election campaign.

Billionaire Musk is pushing for the creation of a Department of Government Efficiency, emphasizing the agency’s acronym, Doge, a reference to a popular meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog. Doge is also short for Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency (Dogecoin).

It is unclear whether Doge will be an official member of the new Trump administration or advising the White House in a non-governmental capacity. According to NPR, an official agency in the US government cannot be created without an act of Congress.

The Department of Government Effectiveness will conduct “a financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and make robust reform recommendations,” Trump said. “The Department of Government Effectiveness will also draw on advice and guidance from outside the government, and will work with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to drive broad-based reform and create an unprecedented approach to government,” Trump said.

The announcement of Mr Ramaswamy’s new roles, and particularly Mr Musk’s, as the heads of companies with existing US government contracts, raises questions about potential conflicts of interest. And it remains unclear how the unit, which Mr Trump said would “provide advice and guidance from outside the government,” would operate.

Mr Trump had previously proposed the creation of a “Commission on Government Performance” as part of a list of new economic plans he announced in early September. At the time, he said Mr Musk had agreed to lead the commission if the former US President was re-elected.

Mr Trump’s statement echoed Mr Musk’s claim that the new agency would “shake up the entire system and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!”

Last month, billionaire Musk announced his goal of cutting $2 trillion in government spending if he joined the new Trump administration.

Mr Musk will be joined by Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur who ran in the Republican primary but later withdrew.

Earlier this week, Mr Ramaswamy told ABC news that “discussions are underway” about a role in Mr Trump’s cabinet.

Like billionaire Musk, Ramaswamy has no government experience, but does have experience in pushing for cost cuts in the corporate sector. 

After taking a stake in struggling online media company Buzzfeed, Ramaswamy pushed the company to cut staff and hire prominent conservative commentators like Tucker Carlson.

After news broke that he was chosen to co-head the new agency, Mr. Ramaswamy posted on social media X with the words “SHUT IT DOWN” – a slogan he often used during his presidential campaign to call for the abolition of federal agencies.