On February 17, Musk posted a satirical message: "According to the social security database, these are the number of people in each age group whose death field is set to FALSE! Perhaps Twilight is real, and there are many vampires receiving social security." He also included the following image. The image shows that the US currently has more than 2,000 people over the age of 200 receiving social security, with the "longest-lived" being over 360 years old. Clearly, this is a fraud to claim social security benefits. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is currently investigating the matter.
Since the new US President Trump appointed Elon Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in January 2025, this reform action to transform government agencies with a corporate mindset has quickly attracted global attention. During the World Government Summit from February 11 to 13, when asked about the mission of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk said that government efficiency reform is like corporate transformation, only on a much larger scale. He used his own Twitter as an example, pointing out that the reform process reduced the workforce by 80%, but through technological improvements, achieved results in one year that would have taken five years in the past. Through the official Twitter account "DOGE", the DOGE team is pushing for government cost reduction and efficiency improvement with radical measures, bringing significant results as well as controversies.
Related reading: Terminated Hundreds of Contracts in 18 Days, Musk with 6 Post-00s Revolutionizes America
Here is a summary of the key actions taken by Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) recently:
On February 11, the Department of Agriculture terminated 18 contracts worth about $9 million; the Department of Education terminated 29 DEI training grants totaling $101 million and 89 contracts worth $881 million;
On February 13, the Department verified the cancellation of $9 million in unnecessary spending contracts by the Department of Education; the EPA canceled 3 DEI contracts, saving $45 million; in addition, 58 other contracts were canceled, saving over $150 million, involving media, DEI, and consulting categories;
On February 14, 167 programs were canceled, saving about $115 million; the Department of Education terminated funding for four "Equity Assistance Centers" totaling $33 million; the $50 million environmental justice grant to the Climate Justice Alliance during the Biden era was canceled, as the alliance believes "climate justice is achieved through free Palestine";
On February 15, 586 contracts with 10 agencies were terminated, with a ceiling value of $2.1 billion, and $445 million in savings were secured; the Department of Education terminated 70 DEI training grants totaling $373 million; 9 wasteful EPA DEI and environmental justice contracts were canceled, saving about $60 million; $1.9 billion diverted during the Biden administration was recovered from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Treasury can now use these funds for other purposes;
On February 16, DOGE canceled a series of foreign aid contracts totaling $729 million, including some seemingly outrageous projects:
$10 million for "voluntary male circumcision in Mozambique";
$97 million for the University of California, Berkeley to "cultivate a cohort of Cambodian youth with entrepreneurial drive skills";
$486 million to the "Alliance for Strengthening Elections and Political Processes", of which $22 million was for "inclusive and participatory political processes" in Moldova and $21 million for voter turnout in India;
$29 million for "strengthening the political landscape in Bangladesh";
......
In addition to the large-scale budget cuts, Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has also been streamlining government departments and auditing government financial systems, which has become two paths for Musk to gradually approach the center of power, also causing great controversy in American society.
Large-scale layoffs expanded to critical public sectors, raising concerns about social services
According to a report by CCTV News, as of February 16, the plan initiated by Trump and Musk to significantly reduce the number of federal government employees has already laid off more than 9,500 people. On February 16, local time, an internal email from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed that the original plan to lay off 1,500 people was adjusted to 1,165 people, and the affected employees will be suspended from work starting on the 17th. This adjustment is believed to be related to the pressure on public health services, but the specific layoff criteria have not been made public, raising doubts about the continuity of medical research. In addition, several other government departments also announced layoff numbers and plans on the same day:
The Environmental Protection Agency said it had laid off 388 employees;
Probationary employees at two research agencies of the US Department of Agriculture have also been laid off, but it is not yet clear how many employees have been affected by this layoff;
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be forced to lay off nearly 1,300 probationary employees, about one-tenth of the agency's total staff;
The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to lay off thousands of employees as early as next week;
The US Forest Service will lay off about 3,400 new hires;
The National Park Service will cut about 1,000 positions;
......
Such large-scale layoff plans have caused a huge uproar in the US. The Democratic Party has made sharp criticisms, and the public has also taken to the streets to protest. Personnel changes in the public sector directly affect the quality of life of the people and the stable development of society.
Sensitive Data Tug-of-War: Taxpayer Privacy vs. National Security Controversy
The Washington Post reported on February 17 that the DOGE team has requested access to IRS taxpayer information, claiming it is for auditing government spending efficiency, but has not clearly defined the scope of data use. This has led to strong opposition from privacy advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who say it could potentially abuse the data or threaten public privacy.
Although the Treasury Department claims that DOGE only has "read-only" access, many government employees do not buy it and have directly sued the Treasury Department, accusing it of illegally granting the Musk team access to the payment system. Previously, the DOGE team had already used AI analysis to access sensitive data from the Department of Education, which has undoubtedly exacerbated people's concerns about the lack of data security protocols. Data security is no small matter, especially when it involves sensitive information about government departments and the public. If vulnerabilities occur, it could lead to a crisis of trust.
In this tug-of-war over sensitive data, DOGE's radical experiment has already embarked on a path of no return. If successful, it may provide a completely new approach and model for global government reform, becoming a replicable example. But if it fails, the US will undoubtedly be mired in a quagmire of political division and social trust crisis. As Musk said on Twitter: "Either make the government run like a tech company, or be eliminated." The question is whether the US government can find the right direction and achieve efficient operation in this risky experiment, and how this turmoil will eventually end, the whole world is watching.
Recent events show that DOGE's reforms have shifted from the initial "cutting contracts and departments" to deeper waters: touching on national security data, core public services, and party politics. Musk's Silicon Valley-style "disruption" has accelerated the process, but also intensified constitutional conflicts and social contradictions. If efficiency and credibility cannot be balanced, this experiment may become the most controversial chapter in the history of the US bureaucratic system.
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