Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, at the tail end of his tenure with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has brought to light a series of startling inefficiencies and wasteful spending in the federal budget. Appointed by President Trump upon his inauguration to spearhead DOGE, Musk's mission was to uncover and recommend the elimination of up to $2 trillion in federal waste. With his service concluding on May 30, Musk has started to wind down his involvement.
In a recent interview, Musk detailed DOGE's most striking findings, including a contentious contract with Mohammad Qasem Halimi, an ex-Taliban official, as reported by the Conservative Brief. Halimi, previously detained at Bagram Air Base in 2002, had been contracted by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) for $132,000. This contract was annulled by DOGE on March 31 amidst scrutiny. A staffer from DOGE also disclosed that the USIP had been spending on private jets and firearms, a stark contradiction to its peaceful mission, dubbing it "the least peaceful agency" encountered.
Another major revelation was the misappropriation of COVID-19 relief funds intended for schools. DOGE's audits uncovered that $200 billion was spent with minimal oversight, with expenses ranging from Las Vegas hotel rooms to an ice cream truck. Specifically, the Granite School District in Utah was reported to have spent $86,000 on hotel accommodations at Caesars Palace for an educational conference, and the Santa Ana Unified School District in California rented a Major League Baseball stadium for $393,000. While Granite defended the expenditure as a legitimate professional development activity, other instances of questionable spending, such as $60,000 on swimming pool passes, came to light.
In a separate investigation supported by DOGE, it was discovered that USAID had allocated $20 million for a localized Iraqi version of “Sesame Street” named “Ahlan Simsim Iraq”, aimed at fostering cultural and religious comprehension. The program was funded through a grant to the Sesame Workshop nonprofit, with Iowa Senator Joni Ernst (R), chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, highlighting this as an exemplar of unwarranted international aid during President Biden's tenure.
DOGE also utilized findings from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which documented $162 billion in improper payments by federal agencies in the previous fiscal year, a decrease from $236 billion the year before. However, this reduction did not prevent criticism as the majority of wasteful spending originated from five primary federal programs.
Lastly, Musk and his team scrutinized federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. In line with Trump's commitments to reduce DEI-related spending, DOGE identified and slated for cancellation hundreds of millions of dollars in DEI contracts, advocating a merit-based system over the current approach.
The revelations from DOGE under Musk's leadership highlight a complex web of federal expenditures that raise questions about budget allocation priorities and oversight mechanisms.