WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Department of Government Efficiency, President Donald Trump ’s special commission tasked with slashing federal spending, has formally joined the government whose size it is supposed to help shrink.
The parade of executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office included one renaming the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service. It further directed that DOGE be established within the Executive Office of the President.
The Digital Service was created by President Barack Obama in 2014 to modernize the government's approach to technology. Its chief original mission was to fix the many glitches and digital problems that plagued the rollout of HealthCare.gov, the site associated with Obama's signature health care law, which Trump has spent most of his political career bashing.
Here's a look at what becoming part of the government might mean for DOGE:
When he announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency in November, Trump said it would “provide advice and guidance from outside of government.”
DOGE was originally headed by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who jointly vowed to cut billions from the federal budget and usher in “mass headcount reductions across the federal bureaucracy."
But Ramaswamy left DOGE this week as he mulls a run for governor of Ohio.
A government website, doge.gov, has been created to accompany @DOGE on X, the social media platform that Musk owns.
The webpage has a message describing it as “an official website" of the U.S. government. Over a black background below that, white lettering reads “Department of Government Efficiency” and “The people voted for major reform.”
The site has cycled through different memes since it went live. Those include one with a DOGE logo featuring a cheerful cartoon dog with an American flag, and another with the image of the cryptocurrency dogecoin — complete with its mascot, Kabosu, a Shiba Inu dog who died in Japan last May.
Making the new entity part of the government could allow it to more easily access information across agencies. The agency can also potentially do much of its work behind closed doors, even as some regulations on governmental disclosure will persist.
For instance, the Executive Office of the President is generally not subject to many Freedom of Information Act requirements. But it is covered by the Presidential Records Act, which means its records must be maintained.
Just how public DOGE might have to be could get an early test.
A lawsuit filed in federal court moments after Trump took office alleged that, by already operating in the months leading up to the start of the administration, DOGE violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act. That's a 1972 measure mandating that advisory and other private committees in the executive branch follow public disclosure rules on staffing and their activities.
The groups behind that lawsuit, which include good government advocates and watchdog organizations, are now reviewing Trump's order integrating DOGE into the government.
“The way it has been operating was under a shroud of secrecy with a number of concerns," said Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that often challenged the first Trump administration in court and is serving as counsel to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “It continues to have a range of legal problems.”
As part of his executive order, Trump also established a temporary organization within DOGE that expires on July 4.
Creating such an entity may make it easier to hire temporary employees or to enlist volunteers. They likely won't be subject to the same ethics and transparency requirements that apply to normal federal employees. Still, federal law generally dictates that such workers, and even those donating their time, adhere to some rules on conflict of interest.
Musk has already suggested that volunteers will be a big part of DOGE. He posted on X in November that the agency was looking for “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week” while suggesting that some positions would be unpaid.
Trump's order makes no mention of Musk personally. Now that DOGE is part of the government, though, the billionaire entrepreneur's association with it means he could run the risk of violating federal conflict-of-interest laws unless he divests from his businesses or recuses himself from government matters involving them. The definition of what might necessitate recusal is murky, however.
One way to achieve more leeway in that area, as well as to potentially shield himself from some federal transparency and disclosure guidelines, is if Musk joins the federal workforce as a “special government employee” — or someone who can be appointed to a federal position for up to 130 days. But the new administration hasn't yet said if Musk will formally join the government as part of his work on DOGE.
Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said doing that would not erase all ethics and disclosure requirements, but it could change how some are applied.
“So much is still unknown," said Bookbinder, whose group is among those suing the Trump administration over DOGE. "I think that really is a key point: They have now put out this order. But what they haven’t really done is to clarify how this is going to work.”
Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)
Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)
President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces began withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials said, part of Israel's commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.
Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.
At the start of the ceasefire last month, Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross Netzarim to head to their homes in the war-battered north, sending hundreds of thousands streaming across Gaza on foot and by car. The withdrawal of forces from the area will fulfill another commitment to the deal, which paused the 15-month war.
However, the sides appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal's second phase, which is meant to extend the truce and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in talks between the sides, but the mission included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough in extending the truce. Netanyahu is also expected to convene a meeting of key Cabinet ministers this week on the second phase of the deal.
Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that a 23-year-old Palestinian woman who was eight months pregnant was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a broad operation.
Since it began on Jan. 19, the ceasefire deal has faced repeated obstacles and disagreements between the sides, underscoring its fragility. But it has held, raising hopes that the devastating war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.
On Sunday, cars heaped with belongings, including water tanks and suitcases, were seen heading north through a road that crosses Netzarim. Under the deal, Israel is supposed to allow the cars to cross through uninspected, and there did not appear to be troops in the vicinity of the road.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands" and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”
The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss troop movement with the media, did not disclose how many soldiers were withdrawing. Troops currently remain along Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the truce.
During the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to war-battered Gaza. The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.
In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.” But details beyond that are unclear and repeated stumbling blocks throughout the first phase and the deep mistrust between the sides have cast doubt on whether they can nail down the extension.
Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated. Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.
Netanyahu meanwhile is under heavy pressure from his far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated. He is also facing pressure from Israelis who are eager to see more hostages return home and want to deal to continue, especially after the gaunt appearances of the three male captives freed on Saturday stunned the nation.
Complicating things further is a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory. Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and the broader Arab world have rejected it outright.
The suggested plan is saddled with moral, legal and practical obstacles. But it may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump, to try to ratchet up pressure on Hamas or as an opening gambit in a bargaining process aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That grand deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state in that territory.
Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”
In an interview Thursday with Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”
The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated in the fighting, leaving many Palestinians returning to damaged or destroyed homes.
Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the north of the territory. The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants in the territory. The Palestinian Health Ministry also said that Shalabi’s husband was critically wounded by the gunfire.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the Israeli military operation, which started in the city of Jenin several weeks ago. He said the operation was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the occupied West Bank.
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
FILE - Israeli soldiers drive near the northern Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - Israeli soldiers wave to the camera from an APC as they cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)
Palestinians are seen near destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)