Following a rocky first quarter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is stepping back from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As a special governmental employee, Musk is only allowed to work 130 days within a calendar year—a limit he’s quite possibly approaching.

Nevertheless, Musk’s decision comes after Tesla reported an automotive revenue decline of 20% from the previous year. Net income also dipped 71%, from 41 cents a share a year ago to just 12 cents in Q1 2025.

In Germany, sales dropped 62% year-over-year for the first quarter, with only a modest recovery in April—a 46% year-over-year decline.

But Musk’s now-limited scope doesn’t mean a full departure. He’s not permanently leaving his position as Director of DOGE, and he has stated that he expects to be in Washington on a bi-weekly basis, only working on DOGE projects a day or two per week.

With Musk in retreat, many are wondering: who’s in charge of DOGE now?

DOGE has been a notoriously shadowy operator. No one knows how many people the department employs, and what, if any, structural hierarchies exist.

Musk’s coterie of college-aged hackers received initial attention for their work with the department, but clocking in between the ages of 19 and 24, none of them have the decades of experience considered a standard requirement for heading up a federal agency.

Without an heir-apparent, is DOGE at risk?

DOGE promised to deliver $2 trillion in savings to American people by way of federal cuts, but even Musk himself acknowledges they haven’t yet been able to deliver on that goal. So far, DOGE has cut $160 billion from federal spending, primarily through the elimination of federal contracts and the firing of federal workers. That leaves $1.84 trillion left to slash for Musk to meet his target.

Moreover, DOGE’s so-called “wall of receipts,” enumerating the federal contracts they’ve cancelled was found to be full of inaccuracies: the numbers didn’t add up. While journalists have landed on a ball-park estimate for now, quantifying the cost savings created by DOGE’s cuts will remain a perennial challenge.

G2X, a site for federal contracting professionals, has been tracking the DOGE cuts. So far, the biggest funding pullbacks have been to refugee and immigrant organizations, some of which have lost billions in federal grants. Well-known companies, like Boeing, have also seen cuts; the aerospace company lost $169 million in federal funds.

Musk leaves behind a federal workforce that has been diminished both numerically and spiritually: federal workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were accused of being part of a “criminal organization.” And federal workers, asked to justify their existence by reporting five tasks they accomplished in a week or face possible firing, were left browbeaten by the DOGE treatment.

Some have pursued legal action.

DOGE is currently facing up to 31 lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, a lack of due process, privacy breaches, and potentially unlawful access to private databases.

When asked who would lead DOGE in his absence, Musk invoked the Buddha.

“DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism,” Musk said, referring to the 2,400 year-old religion that originated in South Asia. “Buddha isn’t alive anymore. You wouldn’t ask the question: ‘Who would lead Buddhism?’”

DOGE’s similarities with Buddhism aside, federal agencies typically have a leader who is confirmed by the US Senate. DOGE, however, was created by Executive Order, and Musk never underwent Senate confirmation.

Like Musk, President Trump seems unconcerned about the new leadership gap.

When asked how DOGE will operate without Musk, the president replied, “There will be a point at which the secretaries will be able to do this work,” referring to the members of his Cabinet.

Some certainly seem ready to play ball.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Lee Zeldin, has publicly praised Musk’s work, and has said that he hopes to cut EPA spending by 65%. Meanwhile, Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, shared his collaboration with DOGE in a post on X, Musk’s social media site:

“Our team at Interior is working with DOGE to streamline government, eliminate waste, and upgrade our critical infrastructure. This includes reviewing every one of the 36,000 Department of the Interior Grants & Contracts for waste, fraud, and abuse.”

But if DOGE is a religion, it seems some aren’t converting.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced plans to reorganize the State Department in April. The reorg would still result in cuts—he hopes to eliminate 700 roles and 132 offices—but he’s seemingly taken a more transparent, measured approach: Rubio shared his proposal with the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees for review.

Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns about the plan.

Nevertheless, many who closely monitor federal trends believe that DOGE’s cost-cutting work will continue, Musk or no Musk.

Jenny Mattingley, VP of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service told E&E by Politico:

“The signaling I’ve seen from agency heads is that they are still planning to do a lot of workforce restructuring, regardless of whether Elon Musk is there or not.”

Mattingley also noted that while Musk may be seeking an exit, the DOGE teams will likely remain.

“If those folks stay in place, my assumption would be that they are going to continue the work that they’ve started already.”

Musk’s “move fast and break things” strategy has been a shock to the federal system. Unlike agile start-ups, the federal government is a behemoth of an organization. And unlike privately owned companies, the federal government is beholden to citizens—not shareholders.

Whether DOGE’s approach, pulled from the pages of tech company playbooks, will result in major cost savings for the federal government remains to be seen. But ultimately, the electorate will weigh in on DOGE’s changes to their government.

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