Elon Musk has spent many years constructing a universe of corporations that has served as an incubator for up-and-coming engineers and a proving floor for his inside circle.
That universe — an ecosystem of Silicon Valley tech titans, veterans of his corporations like Tesla and SpaceX, and a crop of fresh-faced hackers and software program engineers — has now collided with the U.S. federal authorities.
The handfuls of people who work underneath, or advise, Musk and the Trump-ordered Division of Authorities Effectivity — people who TechCrunch has recognized or confirmed independently — displays greater than the billionaire’s proclivity to gather expertise. They’re a real-life illustration of Musk’s web-like attain within the tech business.
TechCrunch got down to report on or verify the people working as Musk representatives within the U.S. authorities. Importantly, we’ve sought to point out the connections between them, and the way and after they entered Musk’s orbit.
Alongside the best way, TechCrunch has made some new discoveries, together with new particulars about DOGE and its employees and an xAI-powered chatbot on a DOGE-related website subdomain that’s hosted on a Musk acolyte’s web site.
Since publishing, TechCrunch has discovered that DOGE cut cybersecurity staff at CISA, and confirmed a number of extra Musk-linked DOGE associates, together with a former VC who now works on the Social Safety Administration.
How we received right here
TechCrunch interviewed individuals who have labored with Musk and DOGE staffers. We used public and open supply knowledge, akin to historic web data and chat logs, to substantiate components of our reporting. We additionally relied on providers just like the Web Archive’s Wayback Machine to entry archived copies of internet sites which can be not on-line. Public info, akin to court docket data, funds transactions, different media experiences, and previous TechCrunch reporting have been additionally used.
TechCrunch reached out to all these named for a chance to remark. For these whose contact info we didn’t have, TechCrunch contacted identified representatives, together with the Trump administration.
When reached for remark, a White Home spokesperson offered a press release to TechCrunch. (The spokesperson despatched the e-mail “on background,” however we’re publishing in full as we got no alternative to say no the phrases.)
“DOGE is fulfilling President Trump’s dedication to creating authorities extra accountable, environment friendly, and, most significantly, restoring correct stewardship of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned {dollars}. These main this mission with Elon Musk are doing so in full compliance with federal regulation, acceptable safety clearances, and as staff of the related companies, not as outdoors advisors or entities. The continued operations of DOGE could also be seen as disruptive by these entrenched within the federal forms, who resist change. Whereas change might be uncomfortable, it’s mandatory and aligns with the mandate supported by greater than 77 million American voters,” the assertion learn.
It is a dwelling doc, because the DOGE group is prone to broaden and evolve over the approaching weeks. Scroll right down to study in regards to the people within the DOGE universe, which have been damaged down by kind: Musk’s inside circle; senior figures; employee bees; and aides, a few of whom are advising and recruiting for DOGE.
If you understand extra about DOGE, contact TechCrunch securely. It’s also possible to share paperwork through SecureDrop.
Inside circle
Elon Musk
Position: DOGE Lead, Unpaid “Particular Authorities Worker”
Gravitas. Obsession. Ambition. Danger-taker.
Elon Musk observers and sycophants have pointed to those traits to elucidate his rise from a bright-eyed immigrant touchdown in the USA to one of many world’s richest and strongest folks, and now a right-hand to President Donald Trump.
The ignored secret sauce is Musk’s skill to get proficient folks to signal on to “the mission.”
That there are a number of, overlapping, and evolving missions — saving the planet by sustainable transport and power, fixing visitors, making humanity multiplanetary, or defending public dialog — doesn’t actually matter.
The largest carrot was, and has all the time been, Musk’s “us versus them” framing, based on 5 sources who had prolonged stints at Tesla and spoke to TechCrunch on situation of anonymity.
Previously, the “them” is perhaps native regulators, the press, or legacy automakers. Right this moment, the folks working intently with Musk to finish his subsequent mission through the Division of Authorities Effectivity have a brand new “them” to battle: waste and bureaucrats.
Musk has talked at size about authorities companies that ought to be “deleted solely.” In the meantime, Musk’s corporations have benefited from authorities contracts and incentives. His firm SpaceX has been awarded greater than $20 billion in contracts from NASA, the Division of Protection, and different federal companies, according to data from USASpending.gov.
Musk is an unpaid particular authorities worker, based on the White Home. Per a filing on February 17, the Trump administration stated Musk is a White Home worker and a senior advisor to the president. In response to the Trump administration’s executive order, DOGE is a short lived authorities group whose authorities are set to run out in July 2026.
Steve Davis
Position: Lengthy-time Musk insider
Steve Davis is a long-time Musk confidant. He started working at SpaceX as one in all its earliest staff in 2003 after incomes a grasp’s diploma in aerospace engineering from Stanford College, according to the Los Angeles Times.
By 2016, Musk tapped Davis to run what on the time was his latest far-fetched thought: An underground transit play referred to as The Boring Firm. On his watch, The Boring Firm raised a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} and constructed a couple of quick so-called “Tesla tunnels” in Las Vegas. However the firm has additionally ended up dropping its beforehand introduced plans for tunnels in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, based on The Wall Street Journal.
Davis has a fame as a relentless negotiator, and Musk introduced him on board at Twitter to assist with the takeover and subsequent slash-and-burn. Davis and his household reportedly slept in a makeshift bed room on the firm’s headquarters throughout this time. In a 2023 lawsuit in opposition to Twitter filed by former staff, the plaintiffs alleged that Davis said to the effect of, “we don’t should comply with these guidelines,” in response to a request to get permits to put in a rest room for Musk.
Davis has served as a member of the board of advisors of the Atlas Society, a gaggle centered across the philosophy of Ayn Rand, per Bloomberg. Davis is now serving to Musk slash authorities headcount, which Rand as soon as called the “worst half” of the “producers’ burden.”
Nicole Hollander
Position: X worker
Nicole Hollander garnered public consideration within the aftermath of Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in early 2022.
The George Washington College alum and former worker of actual property developer JGB Smith (per her LinkedIn profile) was a part of the polarizing Twitter transition group that upended the corporate and slashed its workforce. As a part of that transition, Hollander and Musk ally Steve Davis moved into the corporate’s headquarters with their toddler, based on a civil lawsuit filed in 2023. The lawsuit was filed by a number of former Twitter staff in opposition to X Corp., the Musk entity that took over. The plaintiffs stated within the grievance Hollander was not employed by any of Musk’s corporations at the moment.
Hollander’s relationship with Davis — and her present employment at X — has stored her in Musk’s circle. Her function at DOGE doesn’t have an official title, no less than one that’s public. Nevertheless, Wired reported in late January that Hollander has high-level entry to federal companies and an official authorities e mail tackle.
Brian Bjelde
Position: Senior Advisor, Workplace of Personnel Administration
Brian Bjelde is a real Elon Musk veteran, with 21 years at SpaceX, the place he was worker No. 14 and continues to work right now. Whereas he began as an avionics engineer, Bjelde has spent the final decade working the corporate’s human assets division.
In a 2014 Reddit “ask me anything,” Bjelde stated that at SpaceX, “We attempt to not restrict our considering besides by the bounds imposed by physics.”
A number of former staff sued SpaceX and Musk in 2024 alleging sexual harassment and a hostile work atmosphere. According to the complaint, Bjelde as soon as starred in a video for the area firm the place a staffer spanked him — an obvious try at tongue-in-cheek humor — and he additionally was involved in the firings of several employees who spoke up in regards to the firm’s tradition in 2022.
Previous to SpaceX, Bjelde spent a yr at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory after graduating from the College of Southern California with a grasp’s diploma in astronautical engineering.
At DOGE, Bjelde is reportedly a senior advisor at OPM.
Amanda Scales
Position: Chief of Workers, Workplace of Personnel Administration
Amanda Scales doesn’t immediately work for DOGE, however is now chief of workers on the Workplace of Personnel Administration, the federal authorities’s predominant human assets division, based on an OPM memo.
Scales used to work on expertise acquisition at Musk’s firm x.AI till January 2025, based on her LinkedIn profile. She additionally labored in human assets and expertise at San Francisco-based VC agency Human Capital, in addition to at Uber. Scales graduated from College of California, Davis in 2012 with levels in psychology and economics, per her LinkedIn.
Branden Spikes
Position: Head of IT at X; Former DOGE Operative
Spikes serves as the pinnacle of IT at X since February 2025, in accordance to his LinkedIn profile. Previous to that, he stated in his X bio that he had “most lately” labored for DOGE. Spikes lately confirmed to journalist Brian Krebs that he labored for DOGE for 2 months in Washington, D.C. “to assist save [the country] from sure chapter.”
Spikes is a longtime Musk insider, touting on his LinkedIn profile that he was the fourth rent at SpaceX and was among the many first staff at PayPal. Spikes’ ex-wife is married to Musk’s cousin, Krebs reported.
Senior figures
Jehn Balajadia
Position: Lengthy-time Musk assistant
Jehn Balajadia first joined the Musk ecosystem in 2017, based on her LinkedIn profile, which lists her title as operations coordinator at The Boring Firm.
However LinkedIn data don’t all the time replicate precise positions — and their evolution — in Musk’s world. In 2018, Balajadia took over the chief assistant to the workplace of CEO place, a job that included managing all of Musk’s actions and infrequently these of his relations, based on interactions between a TechCrunch reporter and SpaceX and Musk staff on the time.
Right this moment, Balajadia has a job inside DOGE. In response to The New York Times, she is listed within the worker listing of the Schooling Division.
The e-book “Breaking Twitter” claims Balajadia as soon as instructed one other Musk official that her job was to “take care” of him, and he or she reportedly usually travels with Musk. When Musk took over Twitter, Balajadia was named chief of staff, and he or she was the one who delivered letters of dismissal to a number of Twitter executives, per Walter Isaacson’s book on Elon Musk.
Previous to becoming a member of Tesla, Balajadia labored at Crimson Bull, NBCUniversal, and Walt Disney.
Riccardo Biasini
Position: Senior Advisor to the Director of the Workplace of Personnel Administration
Riccardo Biasini entered into Musk’s orbit in 2011 when he joined Tesla as an engineer after finishing his grasp’s diploma in automotive engineering from the College of Pisa, Italy the earlier yr.
Throughout his 5 years at Tesla, Biasini centered a lot of his consideration on Autopilot, the corporate’s branded superior driver help system, based on his personal account outlined in a Medium post. He led improvement of Autopilot’s traffic-aware cruise management and different driver help options earlier than taking duty for the structure of controls, security, and useful conduct of the electrical propulsion system.
Biasini left Tesla and joined Comma.ai in 2016, the place he developed the automated lateral and longitudinal controls for the startup’s first self-driving automobile system. He later grew to become VP of high quality and finally was named CEO in 2018 after founder George Hotz stepped down from the management function.
Biasini went again to work for Musk in 2019 as director {of electrical} and software program engineering at The Boring Firm.
At DOGE, Biasini is senior advisor to the director of the Workplace of Personnel Administration, according to a lawsuit filed in opposition to the OPM within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia, which gives his title as listed on an OPM doc entitled “Privateness Influence Evaluation for Authorities-Extensive Electronic mail System.”
Amy Gleason
Position: Appearing DOGE administrator
Amy Gleason is the performing DOGE administrator, based on the White Home, making Gleason the official albeit ostensible head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity, even when Elon Musk is basically calling the pictures.
The White Home confirmed Gleason’s position to TechCrunch. Gleason beforehand served on the U.S. Digital Service — now DOGE — between October 2018 and December 2021, based on her LinkedIn profile, which TechCrunch has seen. Gleason additionally beforehand labored as chief product officer at Russell Road Ventures between December 2021 and November 2024.
Gleason experiences to the White Home chief of workers, Susie Wiles, per the executive order establishing DOGE.
President Trump has continued to refer to Musk as heading and main DOGE.
Michael Russo
Position: Chief Info Officer, Social Safety Administration
Michael Russo, a former expertise govt, started serving because the chief info officer on the Social Safety Administration in early February. As CIO, Russo oversees the company’s IT methods and data safety.
Quickly after his appointment, Russo, who is aligned with DOGE, reportedly shortly gave entry to a number of DOGE staffers on the company, together with Akash Bobba and Scott Coulter, amongst others, based on a lawsuit introduced by unions representing employees and an individual aware of personnel issues. A number of different DOGE staffers have been listed as Russo’s direct experiences within the division’s workers listing, the particular person acquainted stated.
Russo was previously the chief expertise officer at ecommerce agency Shift4 and was a senior director at cloud big Oracle, headed by Larry Ellison, a detailed ally of President Trump.
Christopher Stanley
Position: Unspecified function at White Home
Stanley started working for Musk in October 2022, per his LinkedIn profile, when he was employed for the “core transition group” at Twitter after Musk’s takeover. Stanley can be seen at the time taking this widely seen selfie at Twitter’s headquarters with different individuals who weren’t fired or stop when Musk took management of Twitter.
Stanley has since taken on an unspecified function on the White Home, according to The New York Times. Stanley himself has hinted at working within the Trump administration on his X account.
On January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration, Stanley posed next to two January 6 convicts, brothers Matthew and Andrew Valentin, who were pardoned by Trump. Stanley wrote in an X publish that he was “boots on floor to make sure this was executed.” Trump’s Division of Justice liaison Paul Ingrassia wrote on X that the Valentin brothers have been the primary January 6 prisoners to be launched.
Stanley can be the pinnacle of safety engineering at X and the principal safety engineer at SpaceX, based on his website. On his LinkedIn, Stanley says he’s additionally the chief info safety officer at X Funds, a cost service that Musk has wanted to launch as a part of his “every part app” aspiration for X.
Earlier than getting into Musk’s orbit, Stanley had his personal cybersecurity agency, named Stanley Networks, and labored as a contractor on the state of Kentucky. He additionally labored at Kentucky well being supplier Baptist Health, which incorporates hospitals and different services.
TechCrunch discovered an xAI-powered chatbot on a DOGE-related website subdomain on Stanley’s web site, referred to as the “Division of Authorities Effectivity AI Assistant,” which says it’s “right here to assist authorities personnel such as you determine and eradicate waste, enhance effectivity, and streamline processes utilizing a primary ideas strategy.”
Employee bees at DOGE
Akash Bobba
Position: Knowledgeable, Workplace of Personnel Administration
Akash Bobba is a DOGE engineer who’s reportedly a scholar on the College of California, Berkeley, based on Wired. The New Jersey native graduated highschool in 2021, based on public data seen by TechCrunch. It’s unclear how his experiences introduced him to DOGE. However he has had some interactions with the tech world.
In response to a since-deleted podcast with Aman Manazir, Bobba stated he beforehand interned at Meta and Palantir. He additionally labored at Bridgewater Associates.
Bobba’s website as of February 2025 factors to a selected level in a YouTube video, titled, “How Tech Billionaires Plan to Destroy America,” by which Elon Musk says, “I’m not simply MAGA. I’m darkish gothic MAGA.”
Per Wired, Bobba is listed as an “knowledgeable” in inside OPM correspondence, and experiences on to OPM’s chief of workers, Amanda Scales.
In response to a lawsuit filed by union employees, Bobba additionally has a presence on the Social Safety Administration and labored underneath the company’s chief info officer, Michael Russo, based on the lawsuit and an individual aware of personnel issues. Bobba was sworn into his publish “over the cellphone, opposite to straightforward follow,” per the lawsuit, implying Bobba labored for DOGE no less than partially remotely.
Edward Coristine
Position: Particular Authorities Worker
Edward Coristine, a former intern at Neuralink and now identified by his notorious LinkedIn profile deal with “bigballs,” is without doubt one of the core members of the DOGE group and the youngest-known Musk aide at age 19, TechCrunch has confirmed.
Since arriving in Washington, D.C., Coristine has been actively concerned in accessing federal methods at a number of authorities departments, together with Office of Personnel Management, the SBA, GSA and USAID, the State Department, Homeland Security, and FEMA.
Previous to DOGE, Coristine ran a number of corporations underneath his title from his household dwelling in New York, together with DiamondCDN and Packetware, each which supplied types of DDoS safety.
Coristine additionally used to work for DDoS mitigation firm Path Community till he was fired in June 2022 following an alleged “leaking of proprietary firm info that coincided together with his tenure,” Path CEO Marshal Webb instructed TechCrunch in an e mail. Coristine stated in a later Discord publish underneath his deal with “Rivage,” seen by TechCrunch and per different news reports, in response to his firing that he had executed “nothing contractually incorrect.”
It was round Might 2024 that Coristine went to work for Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Coristine can be a mechanical engineering and physics scholar at Northeastern College, and expected to graduate in 2028.
Scott Coulter
Position: IT Specialist, Social Safety Administration
Scott Coulter is an IT specialist working for DOGE on the Social Safety Administration, based on a lawsuit filed by union employees and an individual aware of personnel issues.
Previous to working for DOGE, Coulter headed Cowbird Capital, a New York funding fund based in 2018, which listed property of round $171 million as of March 2024, per a regulatory submitting.
Each Coulter and Cowbird have been named in court documents throughout the Twitter v. Musk lawsuit in 2022 throughout Musk’s takeover of Twitter, although it’s not clear why both have been named.
Coulter was listed as an IT specialist within the Social Safety Administration’s workers listing as of mid-February, based on the particular person acquainted. Coulter didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched to his authorities e mail tackle.
Marko Elez
Position: Particular Authorities Worker, U.S. Treasury
Since becoming a member of DOGE, Marko Elez has change into a central determine in a authorized battle over DOGE’s entry to a number of the federal authorities’s most delicate methods. Now as a senior Treasury worker, Elez has entry to the U.S. Treasury’s funds methods answerable for disbursing round $6 trillion in federal funds to People, akin to Social Safety checks and federal tax refunds.
Named in a lawsuit difficult DOGE’s entry, Elez is a “particular authorities worker” and reportedly had wide data access privileges to the division’s methods earlier than that entry was curtailed by a federal court. He works intently with Tom Krause, one other DOGE staffer and senior Treasury worker. Per a February 11 court filing, Elez is the one DOGE staffer with entry to cost methods.
Earlier than authorities, the 25-year-old Rutgers College graduate labored at SpaceX, the place he centered on automobile telemetry, Starship, and satellite tv for pc software program, based on an archived copy of his web site seen by TechCrunch. Elez later labored on search AI at Musk’s social media firm X, per an archived copy of his website. Elez doesn’t listing any prior authorities expertise.
On February 6, Elez briefly resigned from his place at DOGE, based on the White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, after The Wall Street Journal surfaced racist posts from Elez’s social media accounts. Elez might return to authorities after Musk posted a poll on X asking whether or not Elez ought to be rehired. Elez has been reinstated at DOGE, a Washington Publish reporter posted on February 18.
Luke Farritor
Position: Senior Advisor, DOGE
Luke Farritor is listed as a senior advisor in a number of U.S. authorities division worker directories, together with the State Division, USAID, and the Department of Energy. He additionally requested entry to knowledge held by Medicare and Medicaid, in addition to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
Earlier than authorities, Farritor, 23, was a scholar on the College of Nebraska, Lincoln and was well-known for decoding the writings on ancient Roman scrolls, for which he received a $700,000 prize. Later, Farritor was among the many 2024 Thiel Fellowship class, an annual award given by the billionaire Peter Thiel. An archived copy of Farritor’s website says he labored for Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, who he helped to “make investments a big, multistage VC fund and assist run AI Grant.” (Neither Friedman or Gross responded to a request for remark.)
Farritor labored as an intern at Elon Musk’s satellite tv for pc web firm Starlink in mid-2022, then went on to work at SpaceX between Might 2022 and July 2023, the place he labored on “a number of mission-critical tasks” main as much as Starship Flights 1 and a couple of, per his web site.
Gautier ‘Cole’ Killian
Position: DOGE “Volunteer”; Federal Detailee
Gautier “Cole” Killian is described as a DOGE “volunteer” who was designated a “federal detailee” on the U.S. Environmental Safety Company in early February. A federal detailee is a federal worker usually seconded from one other authorities company.
Killian was a scholar at McGill College in Canada the place he studied math and pc science, and was a member of McGill’s AI team between 2021 and 2022. His private web site was scrubbed from the web in late 2024, based on his web site’s public DNS data.
Gavin Kliger
Position: Particular Advisor to the Director of the Workplace of Personnel Administration
Gavin Kliger is an alum of College of California, Berkeley, and works at Databricks. Kliger joined the DOGE group earlier in 2025.
Kliger is listed as particular advisor to the director of the OPM on his LinkedIn profile, per Reuters, although a lot of Kliger’s on-line life, together with his X account, has since been scrubbed from the web, together with the Wayback Machine, which archives copies of webpages in case they later change into unavailable.
A replica of Kliger’s resume that TechCrunch has seen stated he beforehand interned at Twitter in mid-2019.
In response to an e mail despatched to USAID workers, Kliger additionally has a USAID e mail tackle, and was one of many DOGE staffers who’s now listed in the CFPB’s staff directory, based on the CFPB’s union.
Tom Krause
Position: Particular Authorities Worker, U.S. Treasury; CEO, Cloud Software program Group
Tom Krause is a particular authorities worker and a senior DOGE staffer within the U.S. Treasury. He concurrently serves as the chief executive of Cloud Software program Group, a non-public firm that owns a number of tech companies, together with distant entry big Citrix, a as soon as public outfit that went personal by a sequence of offers.
Bloomberg reports that Krause eradicated jobs at Citrix that workers stated have been essential to the safety of the corporate’s merchandise, based on a number of staff each named and unnamed for the story. Cloud Software program Group instructed Bloomberg it inherited weaknesses at Citrix and confronted rising safety threats throughout the business, and that cybersecurity has improved since its personal fairness buyout and meets or exceeds all business requirements.
Earlier than changing into CEO of Cloud Software program, Krause, who’s 47, was a former govt at Broadcom; previous to that he ran a consultancy firm.
Since working on the Treasury as one in all Musk’s DOGE front-line staffers, Krause has labored intently with Marko Elez, one other senior Treasury worker.
Jeremy Lewin
Position: DOGE Staffer
Jeremy Lewin is a DOGE staffer assigned to the Normal Providers Administration, which oversees the federal authorities’s large procurement and logistics operations, Bloomberg reported. Lewin reportedly failed to achieve entry to a safe GSA space, leading to a superior of his lobbying the CIA for a clearance.
Lewin is a 27-year-old Harvard Legislation Faculty graduate who lately labored on the identical regulation agency, Munger, Tolles & Olson, as did U.S. Second Woman Usha Vance, The Handbasket reported.
Aram Moghaddassi
Position: DOGE Operative
Moghaddassi is a part of a DOGE group assigned to the U.S. Department of Labor, and is one in all a number of staffers that DOGE plans to put in on the U.S. Treasury, per The New York Times.
Moghaddasi has labored for no less than three of Musk’s corporations: X and Neuralink, based on a number of media experiences, and a cached copy of Moghaddassi’s X account in 2023 stated he additionally beforehand labored on AI at Tesla.
Moghaddassi seems to be in his twenties. In 2019, he was a sophomore at College of California, Berkeley, the place he studied utilized math and pc science, the Santa Fe Institute’s website says.
Nikhil Rajpal
Position: DOGE Staffer
Nikhil Rajpal studied pc science and historical past on the College of California, Berkeley, the place he served because the president of the libertarian-leaning scholar political group, Students for Liberty.
In response to archived snapshots of his web site, Rajpal labored at Twitter from 2016 till a while earlier than Musk’s acquisition. He might have first entered Musk’s orbit previous to this, reportedly doing work redesigning a Tesla console.
On behalf of DOGE, Rajpal works on the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has a DOGE e mail tackle.
Kyle Schutt
Position: DOGE Technologist
Schutt is a technologist with longstanding hyperlinks to Republican politics and was extra lately linked to political operations by Elon Musk. Schutt reportedly has access to methods at FEMA.
In response to his since-deleted GitHub profile, which TechCrunch has seen, Schutt works at an organization referred to as Outburst Information. In response to security researchers, Outburst Information hosts a part of DOGE’s website and a number of other different Musk-related websites, together with his America PAC political fundraiser. TechCrunch has additionally seen the identical DNS data, which reference a DOGE-named subdomain.
On February 14, 404 Media reported a flaw that it stated permits anybody to edit DOGE’s web site.
Schutt additionally serves because the chief expertise officer at Revv, an internet fundraising platform that’s extensively utilized by the Republican Occasion, in addition to co-founder of Virginia-based software program firm KAMM.
Ethan Shaotran
Position: DOGE Staffer
Ethan Shaotran, 22, and a California native, is a DOGE staffer and in addition a Harvard College scholar within the class of 2025. Shaotran was first publicly linked to Musk in September 2024, when he was runner-up in a hackathon run by the billionaire’s AI firm xAI.
Shaotran was beforehand the founding father of Energize.ai, although its web site not masses. He additionally developed several iPhone apps, together with a Donald Trump-themed working recreation referred to as “Donald Sprint.”
Shaotran reportedly has a working GSA e mail tackle and requested entry to a decade’s price of GSA knowledge. Shaotran also has access to e mail methods on the Division of Schooling and entry to the division’s back-end web site.
Thomas Shedd
Position: Director of Know-how Transformation Providers, GSA
Thomas Shedd is a former Tesla engineer who now serves because the director of the Normal Providers Administration’s Know-how Transformation Providers, or TTS, a unit identified for designing and constructing digital providers for the federal authorities.
Since Shedd took cost of the unit, the GSA fired its 18F division of specialist technology consultants who labored on the Inner Income Service’s free tax-filing system and different authorities tasks.
A number of staffers additionally reportedly resigned after Shedd gained entry to components of Notify.gov, a system that sends mass textual content messages to the general public throughout emergencies, which comprises the non-public info of People who registered.
Previous to working in federal authorities, Shedd labored at Tesla for eight years, according to the GSA, the place he labored on “constructing software program that operates automobile and battery factories.” It’s not clear what prior authorities service Shedd has, if any, however he has stated he desires to run TTS like a “startup software program firm,” based on Wired magazine, together with the usage of AI to investigate authorities contracts.
Jordan Wick
Position: DOGE Staffer
Jordan Wick is a former Waymo software program engineer who seems to have a DOGE e mail account related to the Govt Workplace of the President, Wired reported. Wick is among the many group that was given entry to Client Monetary Safety Bureau methods.
Wick can be the co-founder of Y Combinator startup Intercept, based on YC’s website. An archived version of Wick’s web site says that as of 2022, he had “lately” graduated with a grasp’s diploma in engineering from MIT.
Christopher Younger
Position: DOGE Staffer
Younger is a DOGE staffer who was given a Client Monetary Safety Bureau e mail tackle, per Bloomberg.
That tackle was reportedly copied in an e mail about 4 different DOGE employees needing to be onboarded and supplied with CFPB constructing entry. Younger is a “prime Republican discipline operative” who was employed as Musk’s political advisor in 2024, The New York Times reported. Younger has labored in Republican politics since no less than 2007, based on his LinkedIn profile.
Aides and advisors
Marc Andreessen
Position: Unofficial Advisor to DOGE
Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Silicon Valley VC agency Andreesen Horowitz, doesn’t formally work for DOGE however has acted as “a key networker for expertise recruitment” on the company, according to The Washington Publish.
Andreessen has jokingly referred to himself as an “unpaid intern” for DOGE, as properly.
George Cooper
Position: DOGE Recruiter
Cooper is a Palantir engineer who labored on DOGE’s recruiting efforts in late 2024, according to Wired. He graduated from Pennsylvania’s Lehigh College in 2019 with a bachelor’s diploma in pc science and enterprise, in accordance to his LinkedIn profile.
Cooper labored to rent different Palantirians to affix DOGE as they’re “essentially the most distinctive folks I do know,” he wrote in a message, seen by Wired.
Vinay Hiremath
Position: DOGE Recruiter
Hiremath, 32, is the co-founder of video recording startup Loom, which was sold to Atlassian in 2023 for $975 million. In response to a blog post on his web site titled “I’m wealthy and do not know what to do with my life,” Hiremath labored for DOGE in late 2024 for a few month making a whole lot of recruiting calls. He wrote that he was added to DOGE-tied Sign teams and “instantly put to work.”
Whereas Hiremath praised DOGE’s work as “extraordinarily necessary,” Hiremath stated he stop as he wanted to deal with himself, calling off plans to maneuver to Washington, D.C. and going to Hawaii as a substitute.
Anthony Jancso
Position: DOGE Recruiter
Jancso is a former Palantir software program engineer who additionally labored on DOGE’s recruitment efforts late in 2024, according to Wired. In 2023, Jancso co-founded Speed up SF, an initiative that faucets engineers to unravel the town’s issues with AI. Jancso’s actual age isn’t public, however he graduated from College School London in 2021 with a bachelor’s diploma in economics based on his LinkedIn profile, seen by TechCrunch. Jancso was himself recruited to DOGE by Boring Firm president Steve Davis.
Michael Kratsios
Position: DOGE Recruiter
Kratsios helped lead efforts to workers DOGE in late 2024, conducting interviews of potential workers, Bloomberg reported. Kratsios was beforehand managing director of Scale AI and the chief technology officer of the USA underneath President Trump’s first time period. He was additionally a principal at Thiel Capital, a VC agency based by Peter Thiel, from 2014 to 2017, based on his LinkedIn.
Katie Miller
Position: DOGE Advisor & Spokesperson
Katie Miller is a Trump-appointed advisor to DOGE, and has served as its spokesperson. Miller served within the first Trump administration and is the partner of Trump’s deputy chief of workers, Stephen Miller. Miller additionally serves on a presidential advisory board related to intelligence matters.
To contact TechCrunch securely about DOGE, attain out through Sign and WhatsApp. It’s also possible to share information and paperwork through SecureDrop.
This was initially printed February 18, 2025, and might be up to date usually.
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