Photo illustration: 731; Photos: Bloomberg (3), Getty (2)
Wealth
The Musk Associates Running the Government
The world’s richest man has dozens of allies dismantling the federal bureaucracy from within.
Elon Musk’s time leading the Department of Government Efficiency is expected to wind down soon, but his stamp on the federal government will endure.
The world’s richest man has pulled dozens of people tied to his private-sector enterprises to work in President Donald Trump’s administration. The group includes Gen Z interns along with longtime lieutenants and board members, with experience in engineering, banking and real estate. What unites them is their financial ties to Musk, and their enthusiasm for the billionaire’s latest obsession: remaking government.
These people now have access to some of the government’s most sensitive databases and are in positions to influence the billions in contracts awarded to Musk’s rocket company — and its rivals. They’re well-steeped in Musk’s style and are pulling straight from the playbook the billionaire used to overhaul Twitter: 120 hour workweeks, office overnights and indiscriminate cuts in the name of efficiency.
Most of Musk’s recruits have been hired as experts in the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources department, or as representatives of the Department of Government Efficiency, the amorphous initiative Trump created for Musk with an executive order in January. From those perches, they’ve been helping carry out the vast reduction in federal workers, slashing diversity, equity and inclusion programs and accessing sensitive systems across agencies. At least two other Musk allies have been hired as chief information officers, giving them access to massive amounts of agency data that they’re responsible for protecting.
Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment. None of the other individuals named in the graphic below, who were contacted by phone, email or LinkedIn messages, responded to requests for comment unless otherwise noted.
As a “special government employee,” Musk can only work 130 days in any calendar year, though Trump has begun to speculate that his work could wrap up sooner, and DOGE is scheduled to expire in July 2026. Some of Musk’s people have already returned to roles at his companies, one at X and several at SpaceX. Those who remain continue to gain new and unprecedented access to government operations and overhaul systems at the agencies that govern every aspect of American life — as well as the future of Musk’s firms and his immense wealth.
Here are the people from Musk’s orbit helping shape the US government, in DOGE, OPM and beyond:
Filter by agency
DOGE
Office of Personnel Management
Social Security
Health and Human Services
General Services Administration
NASA
Federal Aviation Administration
Labor
Energy
Commerce
Other
Deparment of Government Efficiency
Office of Personnel Management
Social Security Administration
Department of Health and Human Services
General Services Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Department of Labor
Department of Energy
Department of Commerce
Federal Aviation Administration
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Agency for International Development, Veterans Affairs, US Citizenship and Immigration Services
Musk Connection
Twitter Banker
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management
Armstrong is a former Morgan Stanley technology banker who worked on Musk’s deal to buy Twitter. At Morgan Stanley, Armstrong also advised Activision Blizzard when it was being targeted for acquisition by Microsoft, which the FTC unsuccessfully fought to block. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Armstrong worked for Credit Suisse and Qatar Holding.
Armstrong is listed as an “expert” at OPM, where he’s told staff that their “goal is to reduce the footprint of the federal workforce,” according to CNN. In an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, Armstrong said federal workers are leaving the government “largely through voluntary means.”
Armstrong is listed as an “expert” at OPM, where he’s told staff that their “goal is to reduce the footprint of the federal workforce,” according to CNN. In an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, Armstrong said federal workers are leaving the government “largely through voluntary means.”
Musk Connection
Tesla,
SpaceX
Government Role
DOGE, Social Security Administration
Gracias is the founder, chief investment officer and CEO of Valor Equity Partners, a longtime investor in Musk’s companies. He was on Tesla’s board from 2007 to 2021, where he’s earned tens of millions in compensation, and currently serves on the board of SpaceX. When Musk was buying Twitter, Gracias sent a text of support: “I am 100% with you Elon.”
Gracias has been detailed to the Social Security Administration, where Musk has alleged there is widespread fraud. He has said he’s not working full-time for DOGE. Gracias appeared on stage with Elon Musk at a rally in Wisconsin before that state’s Supreme Court race. “We started at the top of the system mapping the whole system of social security to understand where all the fraud was,” said Gracias.
Gracias has been detailed to the Social Security Administration, where Musk has alleged there is widespread fraud. He has said he’s not working full-time for DOGE. Gracias appeared on stage with Elon Musk at a rally in Wisconsin before that state’s Supreme Court race. “We started at the top of the system mapping the whole system of social security to understand where all the fraud was,” said Gracias.
Aram Moghaddassi
Musk Connection
X,
Neuralink
Government Role
DOGE, Social Security Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor
Moghaddassi has only worked for Musk companies, first as an engineer for Neuralink for three-and-a-half years, then at X, starting in December 2022. In March, Moghaddassi joined Musk for an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, describing his work at SSA as “helping people that legitimately get benefits protect them from fraud that they experience every day on a routine basis, and also make the experience better.” He’s also been detailed to HHS and the Labor Department.
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
NASA
The founder of payments processing company Shift4, Isaacman has twice traveled to space on SpaceX rockets. Shift4 has invested $27.5 million in SpaceX, and provides services for Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet service. A spokesperson for Isaacman said he has no direct or indirect equity exposure to SpaceX, nor does Shift4.
Now Isaacman has been tapped as the next administrator of NASA, which has contracted with SpaceX for $8.6 billion in work since fiscal year 2021. Musk has made clear that he hopes to get to Mars and has suggested NASA shift its priorities to do so. Isaacman is awaiting Senate confirmation.
Another former Shift4 executive, Michael Russo, was named as the chief information officer at the SSA. Russo was replaced in March by Scott Coulter.
Now Isaacman has been tapped as the next administrator of NASA, which has contracted with SpaceX for $8.6 billion in work since fiscal year 2021. Musk has made clear that he hopes to get to Mars and has suggested NASA shift its priorities to do so. Isaacman is awaiting Senate confirmation.
Another former Shift4 executive, Michael Russo, was named as the chief information officer at the SSA. Russo was replaced in March by Scott Coulter.
Musk Connection
Tesla
Government Role
DOGE, Office of Personnel Management
Gebbia, the billionaire co-founder of Airbnb, joined Tesla’s board of directors in September 2022. In 2018, when Musk attempted to take the car company private at $420 per share, Gebbia texted him: “Baller move.”
“My first project at DOGE is improving the slow and paper-based retirement process,” Gebbia posted on X in February. “I’ve been looking for the next digital design challenge. And I can think of few more important ones than volunteering to improve the user experience within our government.” He was also on the Fox News interview and said “we really believe that the government can have an Apple-like store experience. Beautifully designed, great user experience, modern systems.”
“My first project at DOGE is improving the slow and paper-based retirement process,” Gebbia posted on X in February. “I’ve been looking for the next digital design challenge. And I can think of few more important ones than volunteering to improve the user experience within our government.” He was also on the Fox News interview and said “we really believe that the government can have an Apple-like store experience. Beautifully designed, great user experience, modern systems.”
Musk Connection
Twitter Banker
Government Role
Department of Commerce
During his 30-year career as a technology investment banker at Morgan Stanley, Grimes advised Musk on his $44 billion purchase of Twitter in 2022 along with Anthony Armstrong.
Grimes is now a senior official in the Department of Commerce and has been tapped to lead a planned sovereign wealth fund, part of President Donald Trump’s effort to give the US a stake in projects he considers critical to national security.
Grimes is now a senior official in the Department of Commerce and has been tapped to lead a planned sovereign wealth fund, part of President Donald Trump’s effort to give the US a stake in projects he considers critical to national security.
Nicole Hollander
Musk Connection
X
Government Role
General Services Administration
Hollander, who has had a long career in commercial real estate, has been the director of real estate and workplace at X since April 2023. When Musk first purchased Twitter in the fall of 2022, Hollander and her romantic partner Steve Davis famously moved into the company’s San Francisco headquarters with their infant.
Hollander is working at the GSA on terminating leases for federal office space. Trump has said he wants to shrink the government’s real estate holdings, though an initial effort to list for sale hundreds of properties fell flat and accidentally revealed the location of a secret CIA facility.
Hollander is working at the GSA on terminating leases for federal office space. Trump has said he wants to shrink the government’s real estate holdings, though an initial effort to list for sale hundreds of properties fell flat and accidentally revealed the location of a secret CIA facility.
Ryan Riedel*
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
Department of Energy
Riedel was named the chief information officer of the Department of Energy in February, putting him in charge of all data and cybersecurity at the agency which manages the nuclear stockpile and protects US energy infrastructure. He was replaced after less than two months and returned to SpaceX, according to MeriTalk.
Steve Davis
Musk Connection
SpaceX,
Boring Company, X
Government Role
DOGE, Social Security Administration
An aerospace engineer by training, Steve Davis has spent more than 20 years helping Musk cut costs at SpaceX, the Boring Co. and Twitter. During Musk’s takeover of Twitter in 2022, Davis slept at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco with his romantic partner Nicole Hollander and their infant.
Davis is widely seen as Musk’s right hand at DOGE; in a recent Fox News appearance alongside Musk, the network identified him as DOGE’s chief operating officer. Davis became increasingly impatient during the onboarding process for DOGE staff.
Davis is widely seen as Musk’s right hand at DOGE; in a recent Fox News appearance alongside Musk, the network identified him as DOGE’s chief operating officer. Davis became increasingly impatient during the onboarding process for DOGE staff.
Thomas Shedd
Musk Connection
Tesla
Government Role
General Services Administration, Department of Labor
Thomas Shedd was a software integration engineering manager at Tesla for nearly eight years, working on teams that run the company’s vehicle and battery factories.
Shedd was named director of Technology Transformation Services at the GSA in January. He told staff in an all-hands meeting in February that he planned to implement artificial intelligence more across agencies. In March, Shedd was also named chief information officer at the Labor Department, which puts him in charge of all data and cybersecurity at the agency.
Shedd was named director of Technology Transformation Services at the GSA in January. He told staff in an all-hands meeting in February that he planned to implement artificial intelligence more across agencies. In March, Shedd was also named chief information officer at the Labor Department, which puts him in charge of all data and cybersecurity at the agency.
Musk Connection
Backer
Government Role
DOGE, Department of Education, Department of Labor, Department of Energy
Ramada is an investor from Miami with a history of backing Musk and his companies. As an analyst at Islet Capital, Ramada pushed the firm to back Tesla, which turned out to be one of the shop’s biggest winners. More recently, Ramada was a co-managing partner at Spring Tide Capital, an investor in SpaceX supplier Impulse Space. Now he’s “auditing contract, grant and related programs for waste, fraud and abuse” at the Education Department and helping to improve IT and data systems at the Labor Department.
Alexander Simonpour
Musk Connection
Tesla
Government Role
DOGE, NASA
Simonpour was an engineer at Tesla for several years. Now he’s on the DOGE team at NASA, where he’s reportedly helping oversee the space agency’s reduction in force.
Amanda Scales
Musk Connection
xAI
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management
Scales is a recruiting leader at xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. The company has been growing rapidly, raising billions of dollars and hiring hundreds of people in the past six months. According to a February financial disclosure, Scales is on an unpaid leave of absence from xAI, where she’s worked since October. Now the chief of staff at OMP, Scales was the initial contact for agency leaders as they compiled lists of fired probationary workers. She’s also able to grant exemptions to the mass layoffs demanded by DOGE.
Brady Glantz*
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
Federal Aviation Administration
Glantz is a senior engineer at SpaceX who was hired as a special government employee at the FAA in February “to conduct a review of FAA technology including, but necessarily limited to, the FAA’s air traffic control systems,” according to an ethics report. Glantz’s tenure at the agency, which has oversight of SpaceX and may do business with its Starlink, lasted only four days. In March, he was promoted to be a lead software engineer at SpaceX.
Brian Bjelde
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management
Now listed as an “expert” at OPM, Bjelde has worked for SpaceX for over two decades, most recently as a vice president of human resources: He was featured in an HR training video being spanked repeatedly. Former SpaceX employees have sued the company for sexual harassment and whistleblower retaliation.
Bryanne-Michelle Mlodzianowski
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management
Mlodzianowski worked in human resources at SpaceX. Now she’s one of several former SpaceX HR staffers listed as “experts” at OPM.
Christina Hanna
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management
Hanna has spent nearly nine years in SpaceX’s human resources department, based in the Los Angeles area. Before that, she spent three years in HR for Amazon. Now she’s one of several former SpaceX HR staff listed as “experts” at OPM.
Musk Connection
SpaceX,
X
Government Role
DOGE, Office of Personnel Management
Stanley is a leader in the cybersecurity departments at both SpaceX and X, reporting directly to Musk. On inauguration day, he joined a White House liaison to celebrate the pardons and release of the first two Jan. 6 protesters, and was later hired by executive appointment as a temporary “expert” under the director at OPM. Stanley returned to the private sector in February, then was appointed to the Fannie Mae board of directors in March and resigned a day later.
Edward Coristine
Musk Connection
Neuralink
Government Role
DOGE, Department of Health and Human Services, General Services Administration, United States Agency for International Development, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Prior to DOGE, the 19-year-old Coristine held internships at Neuralink and at data security firm Path Network, where he was fired for sharing information with a competitor. Coristine later bragged about retaining access to his former employer’s computers, though he said he didn’t take advantage of it. Reuters has also reported that while in high school Coristine ran a company that provided network services to cybercriminals.
Coristine has surfaced at several government agencies. In meetings at USAID and GSA, Coristine and others discussed how they might be able to use the data they’ve acquired to train artificial intelligence to replace federal workers. He’s also been granted access to data at HHS, including three systems within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Coristine has surfaced at several government agencies. In meetings at USAID and GSA, Coristine and others discussed how they might be able to use the data they’ve acquired to train artificial intelligence to replace federal workers. He’s also been granted access to data at HHS, including three systems within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Jehn Balajadia
Musk Connection
Boring Company,
Musk Foundation, Musk Foundation
Government Role
DOGE
A longtime assistant to Musk, Balajadia has worked as an operations coordinator at the Boring Co., as well as informally for the Musk Foundation. She helped orchestrate Musk’s $10 million gift to the University of Texas at Austin for research into population decline, which Musk has long called an existential threat to humanity. Balajadia is also an official contact for Musk’s Montessori preschool outside Bastrop, Texas. Now she is working with DOGE.
Musk Connection
Backer
Government Role
DOGE, Social Security Administration, Veterans Affairs
Koval is a vice president at Antonio Gracias’ Valor Equity Partners and is working with Gracias at SSA. He’s also at Veterans Affairs, alongside fellow Valor employee Payton Rehling and other DOGE staffers.
Justin Monroe
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Monroe worked in information security at SpaceX and previously served in the US Navy as an information warfare officer. He is listed as an “expert” at OPM and working as an adviser within the office of the director of the FBI.
Luke Farritor
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
DOGE, Department of Health and Human Services, General Services Administration, Department of Energy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Farritor interned at SpaceX before winning a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship in 2024 to use artificial intelligence to read the Herculaneum papyri, a collection of ancient Roman scrolls.
In his work for DOGE, Farritor was granted access to the Energy Department’s information technology systems to review its data in February. He’s an employee of GSA and has also engaged with the CFPB and HHS, where he has been granted access to several sensitive systems.
In his work for DOGE, Farritor was granted access to the Energy Department’s information technology systems to review its data in February. He’s an employee of GSA and has also engaged with the CFPB and HHS, where he has been granted access to several sensitive systems.
Musk Connection
SpaceX,
X, xAI
Government Role
DOGE, Social Security Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of Treasury
Elez, a 2021 Rutgers University graduate, worked at Musk-run companies, including SpaceX, X and xAI. He first joined DOGE in the Treasury Department, then resigned after the Wall Street Journal reported that he was linked to social media posts (since deleted) that argued against mixed-race relationships and advocated for a “eugenic immigration policy.” With the support of Musk and Vice President JD Vance, Elez was reinstated and is now working at the SSA, Labor Department and HHS, where he has access to agency data.
Payton Rehling
Musk Connection
Backer
Government Role
DOGE, Social Security Administration, Veterans Affairs, US Citizenship and Immigration Services
Rehling is a senior associate and data engineer at Gracias’ Valor Equity Partners. He’s working with Gracias at SSA and was named as a DOGE representative with data access at the federal immigration agency, USCIS, according to a memo obtained by FedScoop. He’s also at Veterans Affairs alongside fellow Valor employee Jon Koval and other DOGE staffers.
Riccardo Biasini
Musk Connection
Boring Company,
Tesla
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management
An automotive engineer, Biasini worked at Tesla from 2011 to 2016. In a blog post, he claimed credit for Tesla’s Traffic Aware Cruise Control and other driver assistance features. He later joined the Boring Co. as a director of electrical and software engineering – a role he still holds, according to a financial disclosure filed in February, which shows he holds shares in Boring Co. worth between $1 million and $5 million. In a February filing , Biasini was listed as the senior adviser to the director at OPM and the point person for a new government-wide email system.
Stephen Duarte
Musk Connection
SpaceX
Government Role
Office of Personnel Management
Duarte has spent several years working in SpaceX’s human resources department, most recently in Bastrop, Texas, according to his LinkedIn profile. His LinkedIn shows that he still works for SpaceX, switching to an HR manager role in February. As of last month, Duarte was listed as an expert at OPM, alongside multiple other SpaceX HR managers.
Custom