Despite Elon Musk’s departure, the restructuring of the United States federal government he led continues.
The Washington Post reported on the 17th that the number of voluntary resignation applicants recommended by U.S. federal agencies far exceeds the approximately 75,000 who agreed to the first round of voluntary resignations in January, likely reaching hundreds of thousands.
At the National Institutes of Health, six directors of major research institutions in the infectious disease institutional sector have been dismissed or resigned, and the Federal Aviation Administration has also seen over 10 senior executives, including the chief air traffic officer, choose early retirement.
The Treasury Department has confirmed that more than 200 skilled management-level personnel involved in government finance system operations accepted voluntary resignations earlier this year.
The Washington Post diagnosed that the departure of experienced veteran employees from the federal government has increased unprecedentedly, intertwined with the early retirement promotion policy of the Trump administration.
Even senior executives who have worked for decades are in a situation where they are forced to retire due to the closure of their departments and offices at the directive of higher-ups.
This restructuring of the federal government was led by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and a close associate of President Trump.
Musk played a key role in the Trump administration’s reelection campaign, spending approximately $1.32 billion during last year’s U.S. presidential election, and was appointed head of the Government Efficiency Office (DOGE) at the launch of Trump’s second term, overseeing the federal government restructuring.
President Trump granted Musk extensive access to classified information, and Musk deployed young IT professionals from Silicon Valley to various departments to implement organizational eliminations, cut expenditures, and carry out a large-scale layoff.
However, Musk recently stepped down from his position as head of DOGE amid conflicts with other Ministers and controversies, such as the sharp drop in Tesla’s stock price, returning to his primary role in corporations.
Nonetheless, Musk’s influence remains throughout the government organization, and staff affiliated with DOGE are still leading the restructuring efforts within the federal government.
CNN, citing insiders at DOGE, projected that the staff placed by Musk could continue restructuring efforts for months or even years.
Some of them are short-term contractors working only 130 days a year as special federal officials, but contract extensions are possible, and many have been assigned positions and roles equivalent to those of permanent civil servants for long-term employment.
An employee of the General Services Administration stated in an interview with CNN that Musk’s people have already come in too much and seem unlikely to leave easily, indicating that the chaos within the federal government will persist.
It is uncertain how DOGE and the subsequent restructuring will unfold without Musk.
If conflicts arise with other Ministers or strong backlash from external agencies like the judiciary, the absence of the protective shield Musk provided in the past may be felt more significantly.
In fact, some Ministers, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bensant, have expressed dissatisfaction, claiming that DOGE infringes on their authority.
On the other hand, there are also observations that with the center of blame, Musk, gone, DOGE may be able to continue restructuring more freely.
CNN assessed that, thanks to Musk’s departure, the operations of DOGE may actually become smoother.