The people in Elon Musk's DOGE universe [View all]
Elon Musk has spent decades building a universe of companies that has served as an incubator for up-and-coming engineers and a proving ground for his inner circle.
That universe — an ecosystem of Silicon Valley tech titans, veterans of his companies like Tesla and SpaceX, and a crop of fresh-faced hackers and software engineers — has now collided with the U.S. federal government.
The dozens of individuals who work under, or advise, Musk and the Trump-ordered Department of Government Efficiency — individuals who TechCrunch has identified or confirmed independently — reflects more than the billionaire’s proclivity to collect talent. They are a real-life illustration of Musk’s web-like reach in the tech industry.
TechCrunch set out to report on or confirm the individuals working as Musk representatives in the U.S. government. Importantly, we’ve sought to show the connections between them, and how and when they entered Musk’s orbit.
Along the way, TechCrunch has made some new discoveries, including new details about DOGE and its workers and an xAI-powered chatbot on a DOGE-related website subdomain that is hosted on a Musk acolyte’s website.
Since publishing, TechCrunch has learned that DOGE cut cybersecurity staff at CISA, and confirmed several more Musk-linked DOGE associates, including a former VC who now works at the Social Security Administration.
How we got here
TechCrunch interviewed people who have worked with Musk and DOGE staffers. We used public and open source data, such as historical internet records and chat logs, to confirm parts of our reporting. We also relied on services like the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to access archived copies of websites that are no longer online. Public information, such as court records, payments transactions, other media reports, and past TechCrunch reporting were also used.
TechCrunch reached out to all those named for an opportunity to comment. For those whose contact information we did not have, TechCrunch contacted known representatives, including the Trump administration.
When reached for comment, a White House spokesperson provided a statement to TechCrunch. (The spokesperson sent the email “on background,” but we are publishing in full as we were given no opportunity to decline the terms.)
“DOGE is fulfilling President Trump’s commitment to making government more accountable, efficient, and, most importantly, restoring proper stewardship of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars. Those leading this mission with Elon Musk are doing so in full compliance with federal law, appropriate security clearances, and as employees of the relevant agencies, not as outside advisors or entities. The ongoing operations of DOGE may be seen as disruptive by those entrenched in the federal bureaucracy, who resist change. While change can be uncomfortable, it is necessary and aligns with the mandate supported by more than 77 million American voters,” the statement read.
INNER CIRCLE
SENIOR FIGURES
WORKER BEES
AIDES
Elon Musk
Akash Bobba
Marc Andreessen
Steve Davis
Jehn Balajadia
Edward Coristine
George Cooper
Nicole Hollander
Riccardo Biasini
Scott Coulter
Vinay Hiremath
Brian Bjelde
Marko Elez
Anthony Jancso
Amanda Scales
Luke Farritor
Michael Kratsios
Branden Spikes
Amy Gleason
Gautier ‘Cole’ Killian
Katie Miller
Michael Russo
Gavin Kliger
Christopher Stanley
Tom Krause
Jeremy Lewin
Aram Moghaddassi
Nikhil Rajpal
Kyle Schutt
Ethan Shaotran
Thomas Shedd
Jordan Wick
Christopher Young
This is a living document, as the DOGE team is likely to expand and evolve over the coming weeks. Scroll down to learn about the individuals in the DOGE universe, which have been broken down by type: Musk’s inner circle; senior figures; worker bees; and aides, some of whom are advising and recruiting for DOGE.
If you know more about DOGE, contact TechCrunch securely. You can also share documents via SecureDrop.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/12/the-people-in-elon-musk-doge-universe/