- The Department of Government Efficiency launched its website DOGE.gov, overcoming initial reported hacking issues. DOGE, led by Elon Musk, is a temporary organization focused on reducing government waste and has faced legal challenges and political opposition.
- The website offers daily updates on government contract cancellations, with new features and financial documentation promised soon.
- DOGE is actively hiring technology professionals and has become a focal point in congressional debates, dividing lawmakers along party lines.
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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has officially launched its website, DOGE.gov. While the initial launch faced challenges, including two reported hacking messages posted by third-party coders, the issue has reportedly been resolved.
Initial hacking controversy
Screenshots from the homepage early Friday, Feb. 14, showed two messages: “This is a joke of a government site” and “These experts left their database open.”
DOGE, led by Elon Musk, has not responded to media inquiries about the alleged hacks as of this posting. Tech news outlet 404 Media reported that DOGE was pulling data from a database “vulnerable” to public edits, according to two coders.
DOGE’s role and opposition
Despite its name, DOGE is not an official government department but a temporary organization assisting agencies in reviewing financial records to identify and reduce government waste.
The initiative has faced opposition from Democrats concerned about access to sensitive data, leading to temporary court restrictions on DOGE’s access to Treasury records.
Daily updates and recent contract cancellations
DOGE continues to operate actively, posting daily government contract updates on its X feed, now featured on its homepage.
Recent cancellations feature 167 contracts totaling $115 million, which include:
- A $2 million equity assessment contract from the Department of Health and Human Services.
- $33 million in Education Department grants.
- A $50 million environmental justice grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Website features and future additions
The website’s initial version is minimal, with future features promised. Planned additions include:
- A DOGE documentation section under the “savings” tab.
- A “workforce” tab, which details employment and salaries across agencies.
- Also a “regulations” section, which compares agency regulations to congressional laws, highlighting a significant disparity with federal agencies creating 18 times more regulations than Congress did laws in 2024.
DOGE is also actively hiring software engineers and technology professionals.
Congressional responses to DOGE
During a DOGE subcommittee hearing this week, Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., denounced DOGE’s efforts as an illegal overreach.
“While we’re sitting here, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government, shuttering federal agencies, firing federal workers, withholding funds vital to the safety and well-being of our communities and hacking our sensitive data systems,” Stansbury said.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., defended Musk and the actions of DOGE as necessary to fulfill President Trump’s promise of cutting government waste.
“The whole D.C. swamp is freaking out that the unelected officials from DOGE were allowed access to these systems,” Greene said. “That makes no sense. Federal judges were not elected. The Treasury bureaucrats were not elected, and they have failed to fix the problem that is enabling American taxpayers to be robbed.”
