Lawsuit Seeks Records on DOGE Structure, Musk’s Mission in Trump Administration

Today’s lawsuit seeks information on the number and identities of volunteers and paid workers within DOGE, meeting details of department staff, communications between individuals within the department and any of Elon Musk’s corporations, and the directives that the department is enacting from the White House and Trump’s advisors.

“The public has every right to know what kind of rogue agency Elon Musk and his tech-bro army have created,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center. “Musk’s wrecking ball outfit should be called the Department of Government Evisceration because he’s destroying critical federal agencies that keep us and the environment safe and healthy. The reality is that rebuilding functioning federal agencies will cost far more in the long run than any trivial savings gained.”

Since DOGE was established on Jan. 20, Musk and a few individuals have unlawfully dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, unilaterally terminated federal contracts to further the right-wing culture agenda, attempted to obtain personal data on virtually every person in the country, and drove the mass firing of thousands of federal servants.

Since the presidential campaign, Musk has continuously promised transparency but virtually nothing is known about his role or how DOGE is structured and who works in the department.

The White House has attempted to obfuscate his role, claiming that Musk is a temporary “special government employee,” an advisor to Trump, an IT consultant and has no decision-making authority. In contrast, President Trump has stated that he has “put a man named Elon Musk in charge,” “he’s doing a great job” and that Musk runs the department. The main information on the department’s website consists of reposts from X, one of Musk’s companies.

In January the Center sued the White House Office of Management and Budget seeking all records of communications between the government and Musk or other members of Trump’s transition team likely to work for DOGE. To date, the government has failed to provide any records in response to the Center’s Freedom of Information Act requests.

The suit also contends that DOGE has failed to comply with FOIA’s requirements that agencies affirmatively disclose to the public various categories of basic information — such as how to make FOIA requests for specific documents.


The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-seeks-records-on-doge-structure-musks-mission-in-trump-administration-2025-02-27/