US DOGE Service ‘Could Continue to Do Work’ After Formal Shutdown, Watchdog Says

DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, announced last month that it was officially shut down on July 4.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) website is displayed on a phone, in this photo illustration. Oleksii Pydsosonnii/The Epoch Times

Similar work that was performed under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could legally continue even though the task force was shut down in July, said a new congressional report.

DOGE announced last month that it officially ceased operations on July 4, although the pace of work that was done in the task force appeared to have been slowing down in recent months.

A report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Aug. 5 said that while DOGE was set up as a “temporary organization,” the terms of President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order did not “call for the termination of the broader” U.S. DOGE Service (USDS) entity. The USDS was created from the U.S. Digital Service, an agency within the Office of Management and Budget.

“It is possible that USDS and personnel at federal agencies could continue to do work that advances some of these initiatives after the temporary organization’s termination,” GAO said.

DOGE was established by the Trump administration to reduce what it said were fraud, waste, and abuse within the federal government. The organization is credited with effectively dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) alongside large spending freezes.

At the onset of the Trump administration, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, was the leader of DOGE. A special government employee, Musk left the government in late May 2025 after his 130-day tenure expired. Some DOGE staffers were special government employees who were hired to do temporary duties for no more than 130 days in a one-year period.

GAO noted there were concerns from Congress members, employee unions, and others about DOGE team members, saying that some personnel may have been involved in policy-related decisions “while having financial conflicts of interest.”

Of the 206 DOGE staffers evaluated by GAO, 27 were considered special government employees, it said, adding that it may have created what the office said is a conflict-of-interest issue.

In the weeks leading up to the July 4 termination, DOGE had remained relatively quiet on social media platform X, where it would previously often issue updates. DOGE’s website was last updated in January, listing an estimated savings of $215 billion.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2025. Nathan Howard/File Photo/Reuters

A similar initiative targeting fraud was set up by the White House earlier this year, naming Vice President JD Vance as the leader. A website that was announced by the White House Thursday said that $229 billion in alleged fraud was identified and billions in fraudulent activities were stopped while billions more were recovered.

“President Trump and Vice President Vance are waging an all-out war on fraud, shutting down billions of dollars in taxpayer theft,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales wrote in a Thursday post on X. “The Trump Administration is holding these criminals accountable and ensuring key federal programs remain viable for the Americans they were meant to support.”

Meanwhile, Vance wrote in an opinion article published this week in the Washington Post that he is asking Congress to take action to help deal with alleged fraudulent activity within the federal government.

The White House did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment.