CNN - Is DOGE actually an agency? The answer could have major ramifications

By Tierney Sneed, CNN
Published 8:00 AM EDT, Sun March 30, 2025


Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has blitzed its way through federal agencies over the last two months, spawning dozens of lawsuits in its effort to shrink the federal government.

As judges take a closer look at how DOGE is operating, and what authority it exercises across the federal bureaucracy, among the many questions they’re asking is whether DOGE is actually a government agency itself.

The answer to that question, pedantic as it may sound, could have major ramifications, including whether DOGE is subject to public records laws and other statutes that require some oversight of executive branch activity.

The laws could pose a check on what Musk can do with his government-slashing project — both by granting access to what’s happening behind the scenes, and by giving legal challengers tools to potentially reverse some of his most drastic actions.

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