Doge Squad is wasting once-in-a-lifetime opportunities
When the news first broke the US government’s high-tech acquisition of Elon Musk, many people who spent years trying to change federal IT practices were surprisingly hopeful. Maybe they dream, Elon Musk and his team at Government Efficiency (DOGE) will provide a long and necessary shock to incompatible and former measures bureaucrats.
“If we were trying to make progress in our lives, it’s beyond debate that a more proactive approach would have been necessary,” he said, “It’s beyond debate,” he said, establishing and managing the US digital service renovated to Musk’s US Doge. said Mikey Dickerson. service. (He left before taking office in 2017.) Dickerson says Presidential Order Trump’s publication on the first day of his second term founded Doge as a temporary organization within the government, but in reality he wanted to see it in the Obama charter of establishment and agency charter. It was something. He especially liked the paragraph that forced the USDS team to grant access to the systems and records. “It wouldn’t have been a magic bullet, but it would have produced a strong presumption that we need to work together,” he says. “We really didn’t have it, so it was almost an option whether anyone wanted to work with us or not.”
Some of the resigning leaders of the government’s technical team were proud of their achievements and were frustrated by the inability to truly change the uncertainty of the federal government. I shared similar wishes. Mina Fusian, outgoing USDS director, called Doji’s power a “risqué opportunity.” Former federal chief information officer Claire Martrana expressed excitement that the order would force agencies to share budget data with Doge, pulling back the shroud and where these agencies would hide their waste. We saw it as an opportunity to finally grasp the results. This information can inform wise decisions about Northstar’s value to the American people and what needs to be cut. “I’m trying so hard to be optimistic about it,” she told me.
Before taking office, Jennifer Palka, former deputy chief technology officer of Obama and one of the founders of USDS, wrote the essay “” as “”.Take Elon to the battle of the knife“Many of the government’s technological community… do not consider Doges to be Saviors, but after years of crying out into the blank, they feel they are proven.”
If any of these former staff members really believed that Musk would run with the opportunity to constructively reform the government, those fantasies are now shattered. Musk and Doge brought in a team of young engineers and experienced executives who were able to seize the moment they focused on improving government work. But to date, they have used their access and power to indiscriminately emit federal labor and refund programs for ideological reasons. Yes, Musk has publicly declared that he is a defender of the people against the bureaucratic state: “What does democracy actually mean when bureaucracy is in charge?” he said during a I asked Strange oval office exterior This week, Trump watched, Musk’s 4-year-old son XX was in the mood. However, the actions taken by Doge are in sync with this sentiment, especially when it appears to be in violation of the move passed by Congress and signed into law. It’s not so democratic. “I think government is a good thing and we need a massive transformation that has had an appetite much faster than anyone in political leadership,” Parka tells me. “We didn’t do that, so this seems like what we’re getting.”
Until the end of last year, Anne Lewis, who led the technological transformation service, dedicated to using modern technology to make it possible for citizens to access the government, also tried to look forward to seeing Doge’s acquisition. did. It didn’t take long for the light to dim. “It’s a great idea to bring in private sector people who have fresh perspectives and skills and want to help,” she says. “But we don’t see people in the private sector with a lot of experience who want to understand how everything works.”