After Elon Musk’s departure from DC, the future of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency seemed uncertain. But DOGE’s work continues unabated—its influence spreading farther and deeper into federal government agencies. WIRED’s Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott share with Leah Feiger what they found through their reporting.
Mentioned in this episode:
This Is DOGE 2.0, by Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott
WIRED Talked to a Fired DOGE Staffer About Who Was Really in Charge, by Vittoria Elliott
You can follow Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger, Vittoria Elliott on Bluesky at @telliotter, and Makena Kelly on Bluesky at @makenakelly. Write to us at [email protected].
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Transcript
Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.
Leah Feiger: Hey, this is Leah. Before we start, I want to take the chance to remind you that we want to hear from you. Do you have a tech-related question that's been on your mind, or just a topic that you wished we talked about on the show? If so, you can write to us at [email protected]. If you listen to and enjoy our episodes, please rate the show and leave a review on your podcast app of choice. It really helps other people find us. Welcome to WIRED's Uncanny Valley. I'm WIRED's senior politics editor, Leah Feiger, filling in for Zoë. Today on the show, DOGE 2.0. As you may recall, in late May, Elon Musk announced that he and other top leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, would be leaving. This was around the time that President Trump and Musk had a bit of a public spat.
[Archival audio]: Oh, man, the girls are fighting, aren't they?
Leah Feiger: While Musk has officially left DC, DOGE is continuing its whole-scale assault on federal agencies. I'm joined by my colleagues, senior writers Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott here at WIRED. Welcome to Uncanny Valley.
Vittoria Elliott: Hi, Leah.
Makena Kelly: Hey, it's great to be here.
Leah Feiger: Let's get into it right from the gate so our listeners can get their bearings. Who exactly is Edward “Big Balls” Coristine?
Vittoria Elliott: Yeah. He is one of the young, inexperienced DOGE staffers, he is 19 years old. The thing that makes Coristine so unique is that, like this handful of really young engineers, most of them under the age of 25 and the majority under the age of 30, he has been deployed across multiple government agencies. We've seen him show up at USAID, at the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, all these different places. I cannot stress how highly uncommon it would be for someone to have access to sensitive data or systems, or even be working across that many agencies at once. When we're talking about people in high-level government roles who might be touching sensitive information like Social Security numbers or immigration status, or might be asking information that you would need years and years and years of experience and a security clearance of some kind to get to, or at least some kind of background check. I think Edward Coristine was emblematic of the way in which DOGE was this haphazard project, with young, inexperienced people doing some of the most consequential work in government with very little oversight.