The so-called Ministry of Elon Musk’s government efficiency (DOGE) spent the first six weeks of the new Trump administration to shoot the federal government upside down. He moved from agencyAccess sensitive data and payment systems, all on a crusade supposed to audit the government and stop fraud, waste and abuse. Doge posted part of his “Findings” on his websitemany of which were revealed to be Errors.
But two federal listeners with years of experience, both of which have worked on financial and technical audits for the government, say that Doge’s actions are the most distant thing from what a real audit looks like. The two asked to speak on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
“Honestly, by comparing a real audit to what Doge does, there is no comparison,” said one of the listeners who spoke to Wired. “None of them are listeners.”
In September, in a speech During the presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump said that he would create a working group on the effectiveness of the government, led by Musk, which would make a “financial and full performance audit of the entire federal government”. Musk first said he wanted to cut 2 dollars of the federal budget, more than the entire discretionary budget of 2023 of $ 1.7 billion. Musk has since tempered his ambitions, saying that he would aim to reduce 1 billion of dollars on public spending. However, he allegedly alleged that a large part of this money can be reduced by identifying waste, fraud and abuse, and continued to claim the Doge of personnel and the agency’s resources is part of an audit.
Although there are certainly cases of government money to siphon for fraud –A study by the Office of the Government of Responsibility Published in 2024 estimated that the government lost between $ 233 billion and $ 521 billion in fraud each year, even if all these expenses would not represent Musk hopes of $ 1 Billion to reduce budget.
The listeners who spoke to Wired allege that not only is Musk’s claim not true, but also that Doge seems to have completely avoided existing processes to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
“An audit that follows the generally accepted government’s audit standards (GAGAS), also known as yellow book audit, is carried out in accordance with the standards issued by the US Government Accountability Office,” said the first auditor. Audits can focus on the finance, compliance or performance of an agency. “This is the gold stallion for the way you check the government.”
There are generally five phases of a Gagas audit, say the listeners: planning, evidence, evaluation, report and monitoring. Auditors work to define the scope of an audit, identify all applicable laws and standards and develop an audit plan. Then, the listeners conduct interviews with the staff, examine the financial files and paint it through data, reports and transactions, by documenting all along. From there, listeners will assess this information against policies or procedures to determine if there has been a kind of waste, fraud or alleged abuse and publish a report detailing their conclusions and offering recommendations. Often these reports are made Available to the public. After an audit, listeners can follow the agency to ensure that changes are made.
