What will happen if Elon Musk's DOGE removes technical expertise from the government?


By

Gage Skidmore

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by businessman Elon Musk, has set the goal of 'eliminating waste in the U.S. government' and is reviewing various projects and laying off employees to reduce government spending. As part of this, on March 1, 2025, DOGE disbanded the team '18F,' which helps improve digital services for U.S. federal agencies, and fired about 90 team members. The impact of this is discussed by the foreign media NewScientist.

DOGE eliminated the US government's tech experts – what has been lost? | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2470902-doge-eliminated-the-us-governments-tech-experts-what-has-been-lost/

Launched in 2014 under the Democratic administration of Barack Obama, 18F is part of the General Services Administration (GSA) and is tasked with improving digital services within the government by improving the accessibility of federal government websites, modernizing technology, enhancing data access, and making government citizen service experiences more user-friendly. 18F has previously worked on building the Internal Revenue Service's free tax return service , and the US government estimated that 'more than 30 million taxpayers in 25 states will be eligible to use this service by 2025.'

One 18F employee said the company most recently worked on digitizing a health care application system that affects 70 million Americans, and was working with the Department of the Interior to update a website that tracks the environmental impacts of oil and other hazardous releases.

However, Musk announced in February 2025 that '18F has been eliminated.' Then, on March 1, 2025, GSA Technology Transformation Services Director Thomas Shedd said, 'DOGE has determined that 'your work is not important,' and has notified approximately 90 18F employees that their team will be disbanded and fired.'




Daniel Castro of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a US think tank, said, 'Initiatives such as 18F have created a rich network of experts that can modernize government services.' He also said, 'The dissolution of 18F could cause delays to various projects underway within the US government. We question whether DOGE is an appropriate replacement for the United States Digital Service (USDS) and 18F to ensure the US government's efficient use of technology.'

'18F was contracted to consult with federal and state government agencies on which technology solutions to adopt and to determine which companies could build services within their budgets, helping to eliminate waste within the government,' said Dan Hong, a digital services and technology specialist for the U.S. government.

18F said on its official website , 'For many years, 18F has proudly provided services to make government technology work better. We have worked on hundreds of projects, all designed to make government technology more efficient and effective and save American taxpayers money. 18F was doing the kind of work DOGE wanted us to do, yet everyone was fired. The dissolution of 18F is a bitter blow to the critical team that supports our IT infrastructure.'



Meanwhile, a GSA spokesperson said, 'GSA continues to support the government's efforts to adopt best-in-class technologies to accelerate digital transformation and modernize its IT infrastructure,' and reported that it will provide operational support to all federal agencies.

Related Posts:

in Note, Posted by log1r_ut