GAO thwarts attempt by DOGE to set up a team within the watchdog

The Government Accountability Office blocked an attempt by Elon Musk’s DOGE to install a team at the congressional watchdog, according to a spokesperson for the independent, nonpartisan agency and an email shared with FedScoop.

The spokesperson said that DOGE staffers who attempted to establish a team at the watchdog cited President Donald Trump’s executive order creating the efficiency-driven group within the White House. The spokesperson further confirmed that the agency had “declined any requests to have a DOGE team assigned to GAO.” 

The watchdog also sent an email to its staff Friday about the attempt and its response, a GAO source confirmed. According to the text of that email shared with FedScoop, GAO said it sent a letter to DOGE’s acting administrator “stating that GAO is a legislative branch agency that conducts work for Congress. As such, we are not subject to DOGE or Executive Orders.” 

The message also stated that GAO had “notified relevant congressional committees and will keep them apprised of any further developments.” The correspondence to staff was first reported by NOTUS. 

The revelation of DOGE’s attempted intrusion into GAO operations comes as auditors with the watchdog examine the “digital footprint” left by Musk’s group in IT systems at the Treasury Department, Social Security Administration, Office of Personnel Management and other agencies.

Those GAO investigations, which were requested by Democratic members of Congress, are focused specifically on what data was accessed by DOGE associates in those IT systems and determine if any changes were made.

Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who leads the GAO, told lawmakers last month that the watchdog would publish its reports as soon as they are ready, rather than waiting for all agency assessments to be completed. 

Since Trump’s election and Musk’s rise, it remained unclear  whether DOGE would consult the GAO while pursuing its plans to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. The world’s richest man spoke of serving as a “volunteer IT consultant” in the Trump administration, and even highlighted GAO reports on X that targeted botched or adrift modernization efforts within agencies.

The GAO had unearthed plenty of low-hanging fruit for DOGE to tackle in its purported cost-savings quest, releasing a report days after Trump’s inauguration highlighting 463 out of 1,881 IT-related recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget and agencies since 2010 that hadn’t been addressed.

Despite the seemingly easy wins that were there for the taking, DOGE barely made contact with the GAO during the early days of the Trump administration, according to the watchdog’s top official. Dodaro told Congress in late February that he hadn’t met with Musk or anyone else from DOGE; a couple GAO staffers met with DOGE representatives to discuss Treasury Department audits, but that was the extent of the contact.

Several weeks later, Dodaro was back on Capitol Hill and reported to lawmakers that there had been a notable uptick in communications and that DOGE was “actually using our recommendations to help carry out their activities.” A GAO spokesperson told FedScoop at the time that the GAO-DOGE discussions had been “productive.”

DOGE’s self-reported cost-savings have been a moving target over the past few months. Musk originally pledged to identify $2 trillion in cuts, but the group now says it has found just $170 billion in savings. 

Those estimates have been challenged by several media outlets and independent budget trackers. Meanwhile, a GAO report released this week pinpointed $100 billion in potential government cost savings.