DOGE Efficiency Office

Conflicts of interest? Musk monitors himself

Protests against Elon Musk and his DOGE efficiency office in Washington: The access of Musk's agency to the US payment systems went too far for officials and was restricted following a union complaint.

(Bild: AFP/AFP or licensors)

According to the White House, tech billionaire Elon Musk will himself ensure that there are no conflicts of interest in his post in the US administration's DOGE efficiency office. According to experts, this is a highly unusual approach ...

Should Musk come across contracts and payments where there could be conflicts of interest, he will stay out of it, said presidential spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday (local time) in Washington. US President Donald Trump has tasked Musk with cutting government spending.

Among other things, Musk is the head of electric car manufacturer Tesla and the aerospace company SpaceX. Tesla is the target of several investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and SpaceX launches rockets for the US government, including for the Department of Defense. In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has repeatedly stopped SpaceX launches after problems.

Musk to cut government costs
A committee called DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) with a handful of employees was established for Musk's government activities. Musk was given the official status of a "special government employee". This means that he is not allowed to work for the government for more than 130 days in a 365-day period.

"Special government employees" are also not allowed to be involved in matters that affect their own financial interests. Leavitt was therefore asked at the daily media briefing on Wednesday how the White House intended to ensure this.

Astonished reactions
Her answer that Musk himself is responsible is rather unusual. "I don't know of any other case, anywhere, where a person could decide for themselves whether there was a conflict of interest," expert Donald Kettl, a former professor at the University of Maryland, told the financial service Bloomberg. That in itself is a conflict of interest, he said. Leavitt said Musk complied with all applicable laws.

Meanwhile, the chief financial officer of the US Federal Office of Personnel Management, Eria Roach, has resigned. She was forced out of her role, a reporter from the ABC channel reported on the online platform X, which is also owned by Musk, citing people familiar with the matter. Employees of the billionaire at DOGE had recently taken control of the OPM (Office of Personnel Management) - the US government's personnel authority.

Struggle for access to payment systems
Musk's office is also at loggerheads with the US civil servants' union: at their insistence, DOGE's access to an important payment system of the US Treasury Department has been limited to two people for the time being. The US Treasury Department and trade unions representing government officials agreed on this regulation in a court in Washington. Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed by the unions continues.

DOGE employees at the Treasury Department were given access to a centralized system through which government payments are processed. Unions argued in the lawsuit that this was illegal and, above all, violated data protection rules. The system is also used to process payments to government employees and retirees. In the court settlement, it was separately stipulated that the two DOGE representatives can only view the payments, but cannot make any changes.