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President Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday directing federal agencies to justify their employees’ positions, while granting enhanced authority to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to remove positions deemed non-essential.
The directive requires agencies to protect their workforce from elimination or merger, while implementing a restrictive hiring policy of one new hire for every four departures. Additionally, it establishes “DOGE team lead” positions within each agency to manage what the order describes as “large-scale reductions in force” by evaluating which functions aren’t legally mandated.
“Agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law,” the order reads.
Trump, joined by Elon Musk in Oval Office, orders big cuts in federal workforce – USA TODAY https://t.co/hkwP1l5lDc
— HON David Murotake OCDS PhD 🇺🇸 (@Greymantle) February 12, 2025
This order builds upon Trump’s previous workforce reduction initiatives, including a freeze on federal hiring and offering eight-month paid resignation packages. The team lead collaboration appears to stem from DOGE’s founding order, which transformed the Obama-era United States Digital Service (USDS) into the United States DOGE Service.
The order excludes military personnel and employees considered vital for national security, immigration enforcement, or law enforcement duties.
“If bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?” Musk said, standing beside the president as he signed the order in the Oval Office.
President Donald Trump ordered US agencies on Feb. 11 to work closely with top adviser Elon Musk's effort to shrink the federal workforce. Billionaire Musk stood next to Trump in the Oval Office at the White House before the order was signed https://t.co/i2UvJuHr80 pic.twitter.com/DRa1jnzpUc
— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) February 12, 2025
“It does not match the will of the people, so it’s just something we’ve got to fix,” he added.
DOGE has successfully reduced the U.S. Agency for International Development and now focuses on similar reductions in Education and Defense departments. The organization faces legal opposition from public employee unions regarding its buyout program and general workforce reductions, with a federal judge recently extending the employee acceptance deadline for Trump’s proposal.
