Watchdog puts new numbers on the size of DOGE, but many details remain unknown as agencies refuse to turn over information

The Government Accountability Office on Wednesday published a report that uncovered more information about the individuals who worked for the Department of Government Efficiency. Still, the congressional watchdog’s findings were limited, including with respect to whether the DOGE employees completed required ethics training and paperwork, due to a lack of cooperation from agencies. 

Investigators determined that there were at least 206 employees who worked for the Trump administration’s cost-cutting entity that held positions in the Executive Office of the President, even if they were detailed to other agencies, between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 31, 2026. That number excludes DOGE staffers who were not assigned to the EOP. 

GAO found that at least 128 of these individuals separated from their EOP positions by Jan. 31, 2026. 

Of those 206 staffers, at least 27 were special government employees, meaning they could not serve for more than 130 days during any one-year period. For example, Elon Musk, the former de facto head of DOGE, was an SGE, which raised conflict of interest questions due to his companies receiving billions in federal contracts. 

However investigators were not able to determine the appointment type, such as Schedule C political appointee or noncareer Senior Executive Service, for more than 150 of the personnel because many agencies did not provide the requested information. 

“This total includes the 127 [U.S. DOGE Service] employees who held titles as digital services experts or consultants within USDS,” according to the report. “Although USDS has stated that USDS positions last no more than 4 years, we were unable to determine whether these USDS employees or other personnel had held such time-limited appointments.”

In total, 10 agencies and the EOP did not respond to requests from GAO for records that these DOGE employees participated in ethics training and completed financial disclosure reports. 

“As a result, we are not able to determine the total number of DOGE personnel who held positions within EOP who received trainings or who completed financial disclosures at those 10 agencies or at EOP,” investigators wrote. 

Nine agencies, covering 64 DOGE employees, did submit information about whether the staffers did such training and reports. But GAO argued that much of the documentation was incomplete. For example, the Agriculture Department provided an “ethics-related presentation” for Trump appointees but didn’t offer evidence for when, or if, the DOGE staffers received the training. 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. 

While “the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization” terminated on July 4, pursuant to the executive order establishing it, GAO pointed out that the directive permanently renamed an existing White House office as the U.S. DOGE Service. 

“Since the EO does not call for the termination of the broader USDS entity, 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,” investigators wrote. 

DOGE spearheaded many of the civil service reductions that took place last year, resulting in a decrease of more than 350,000 to the federal employee headcount. 

GAO in April reported that the Treasury Department and DOGE did not follow all security protocols with respect to granting access to government payment systems.