Elon Musk's Regulatory Storm, Six Young Geniuses Who Rocked the United States
By Tang Qing
Let's see how Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, six super geniuses, in a matter of weeks has shaken up Washington.
Young Elon Musk has not only built rockets, created Starlink, dug tunnels, and bought Twitter, but now he's also gone inside Washington, bringing in a group of young tech engineers to audit finances, cut budgets, and eliminate inefficient projects.
Elon wants to reform the entire United States government. You could say, true heroes are born at a young age!
In the White House, there are those who support him, while in Congress, there are those who panic. Will this be a revolutionary reform?
The Birth of DOGE
This story begins when the new administration of Donald Trump returns to power. This time, Trump took a big step—directly inviting Elon Musk to the White House. However, Musk didn't come just for dinner. He was appointed as a Special Government Employee and led an elite technology team to reform the government.
Why did Trump choose Musk? the reason was simple: Washington's bureaucracy was too fat and inefficient. Trump has long wanted to cut excessive government spending and improve efficiency, but previous efforts have been unsuccessful. Finally, he called on the man best at “breaking the rules”—Elon Musk—in hopes of bringing a tech company mindset to optimizing government.
However, this time Musk's status is a little different. He is not a government advisor, not a department head, but a “special operations agent” who directly leads a small team called DOGE.
DOGE is not an ordinary government agency, but a “secret weapon” handpicked by Trump.
Does not require Congressional approval,
Not bound by traditional bureaucratic procedures,
Directly responsible to the White House,
In other words, Musk can carry out government reforms like managing a company.
DOGE itself is an abbreviation for Department of Government Efficiency.
Please note that the annual budget of the US federal government reaches US$. 6.2 trillion, with much of the funds wasted on projects that are inefficient, overlapping, or even non-transparent.
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The DOGE team's mission is to cut wasteful spending and redistribute resources, making government more efficient.
This team consists of the best young engineers, some are only 19 years old but are already sitting in the White House meeting room. Their task is only one: to find “useless expenditure” in government and eliminate it.
Six Young Geniuses of the DOGE Team
It's hard to believe, but the average age of this “government reform special forces” team is only 22 years old. They are not traditional bureaucrats, but programming geniuses, AI experts, and data analysis experts.
Musk has a simple selection standard:
✅ No matter background or diploma
✅ What is important is the ability to solve problems
As a result, he managed to collect six “extraordinary geniuses” with unusual life histories:
1. Akash Bobba
Student of the elite MET (Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology) program at Berkeley University
Has interned at Meta and Palantir, expert in AI and data analysis
He once had an incident where his team's entire project code was deleted two days before the deadline, but he managed to rewrite it all overnight—and the results were better than ever!
2. Edward Coristine
Engineering student at Northeastern University, but dropped out to join DOGE
Just 19 years old, the youngest on the team
Worked on Musk's Neuralink project, but focused on software engineering, not brain-computer interfaces,
3. Luke Farritor
21 years old, is known as the first person in the world to successfully use AI to translate a 2000 year old ancient Greek scroll
His research shook the academic world and opened new avenues for the use of AI in the analysis of ancient texts,
4. Gautier Cole Killian
Former analyst at Jump Trading, expert in high-frequency trading and financial algorithms
At DOGE, he is responsible for government IT modernization, especially in data security and system optimization,
5. Gavin Kliger
Former employee of Databricks (leading global AI data platform)
Now a special advisor in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Also famous as a blog writer on X (Twitter) about in-depth analysis of “Deep State”, with a sharp writing style,
6. Ethan Shaotran
Computer Science student at Harvard, and founder of an AI startup called Energize AI
The startup received investment support from OpenAI
Once won second place in a hackathon competition sponsored by Musk's company—and was immediately recruited to DOGE
Join DOGE to modernize government IT systems,
DOGE Working Style: Silicon Valley Speed vs. Bitcoin Washington bureaucracy
💻 In Silicon Valley, people work 996 (09:00 – 21:00, 6 days a week)
💀 On DOGE? They work 007 (00:00 – 00:00, non-stop)
Musk said that they work 120 hours per week, with almost no holidays and no fixed schedule.
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Meanwhile, Washington's bureaucratic system:
❌ I went home early on Friday
❌ More vacations than anyone else
❌ Approving a budget can take months
Musk even teased at X:
“The DOGE team works 120 hours a week, while Washington bureaucrats only work 40 hours. No wonder they lost so quickly.”
The DOGE team has special access to various government agencies, including:
🔹 General Services Administration (GSA) – access government IT systems
🔹 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – helps optimize government employee data,
DOGE “Blitzkrieg” Rocks Washington
In less than a month, the DOGE team has shaken entire governments.
With technological methods, they have:
✅ Reveal non-transparent expenses
✅ Cutting project budgets is inefficient
✅ Even causing several institutions to stop operating
Washington was in an uproar.
Is an administrative revolution underway? We'll see what happens next! 🚀
Step One: Treasury Department Payment System — Tracking the Flow of Funds
The first target is the US Treasury Department. As is known, the US government spends around US$ 5 trillion every year for various needs, such as social security, health programs, the defense budget, as well as payments to government service providers. However, the transparency of this fund flow is always a big question mark.
Because of this, DOGE immediately stepped in and gained limited access to the Treasury Department's payment system to begin “auditing” the government's financial transactions.
Shortly after that, Elon Musk leaked a surprising fact on the X platform:
“The official in charge of payment approval at the Treasury Department has never rejected a single transaction. Whether it was a transaction that was clearly suspicious, or one that was potentially connected to a terrorist organization, it all slipped through the cracks.”
This statement immediately sparked heated debate in various circles.
If this claim is true, it means the government's payment system has been leaking for decades without anyone watching. However, some experts believe that the Treasury Department's payment approval process is actually more complex, so Musk's statement is considered an exaggeration.
However, DOGE's steps have shocked the internal environment of the Ministry of Finance. In fact, the Deputy Minister of Finance, David Lebryk, resigned after this scandal emerged. Several members of Congress began to urge that DOGE's access rights to the government's financial system be immediately revoked.
On the other hand, federal workers' unions also joined in, accusing DOGE of violating the privacy of government employees by accessing payment data without explicit permission.
How did Musk respond?
“If this matter is not important, why were you so scared when we started the audit?”
This statement made the situation even hotter. Now, a battle between the “audit team” and the “anti-audit team” is underway in Washington.
Step Two: A Sudden Attack on the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
If the audit at the Treasury Department was surprising enough, then what happened at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was truly like a "bomb explosion" in Washington.
USAID is a government agency that manages more than US$.40 billion annually in US foreign aid programs. However, the question is:
“Where is this money actually being used?” Is it really being used for what it is supposed to be?”
Shortly after DOGE began investigating, the White House released a list of projects deemed a “budget waste,” including:
US$.1.5 million for the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) program in Serbia
US$.70,000 to support DEI music performances in Ireland
US$.2 million to fund transgender operations and LGBT activities in Guatemala
US$.47,000 for a transgender-themed opera in Colombia
The White House immediately criticized the use of this budget, assessing that people's tax money was used for personal ideology-based projects, without clear supervision.
Not waiting long, DOGE immediately moved. They audited USAID's IT systems, and the results?
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Many USAID employees suddenly lost access to their internal systems, unable to even enter the office.
Some affected employees even broadcast live on social media when they were blocked from the system.
Musk responded to this situation bluntly: “USAID is a hole of corruption that cannot be saved. It must be completely cleaned."
Donald Trump also fully supports DOGE's steps, saying: “Just look at what Musk discovered. Now you understand why we had to close USAID.”
However, USAID has not been completely disbanded. The agency is now being taken over by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is planning sweeping reforms.
However, USAID's future is still uncertain, and could change drastically in the near future.
What is Trump's attitude?
In his latest interview, Trump stated: “Musk has done an extraordinary job. Just look at the cases of fraud at USAID that he uncovered, it was truly a disaster.”
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Trump also emphasized that Musk would not do anything without approval.
The reforms carried out by Musk and his six genius engineers have shaken Washington tremendously.
Will the Democratic Party take more drastic steps to stop DOGE?
Can Republicans ensure that these reforms continue?
Can Musk survive amidst increasingly fierce political confrontation?
All of this is still a big question mark. We will continue to monitor developments.
Source ( Link Terkait ):
https://etindonesia.com/2025/02/09/badai-regulasi-elon-musk-enam-jenius-muda-yang-mengguncang-amerika-serikat/
