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2025-02-05 Government Corruption
Elon Musk unleashes nerd army of college-aged engineers to dismantle government waste with DOGE
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Six baby-faced men with little-to-no government experience have been handpicked by Elon Musk to help him dismantle America's foreign aid agency.

The billionaire Tesla founder was appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency after months of campaigning with President Donald Trump during the election.

Now, Musk has taken over and enlisted a troupe of men aged 19-25 - three of whom are believed to still be in college - to fill high-powered engineering roles and cut costs.

At just 19, Edward Coristine is the youngest of the fresh-faced bunch taking on corporate America and longstanding government institutions.

According to WIRED, he's been dubbed an 'expert' in his field, and specifics about his role aren't yet clear.

Akash Bobba, 21, Ethan Shaotran, 22, and Luke Farritor, 23, along with Coristine, have reportedly been granted A-suite level clearance for their work, meaning they can work out of the agency's top floor with access to all physical spaces and IT systems.

Musk's DOGE has been rapidly growing in power and expanding its remit, most recently securing clearance to access to restricted parts of the General Services Administration buildings and IT systems. These systems store sensitive data including social security numbers, addresses and contact information.

The oldest of the bunch is 25-year-old Berkeley graduate Gavin Kliger, who while not identified as having top level clearance has already proven he wields significant power.

Finally, Gautier Cole Killian has been named for his role with DOGE, which is reportedly on a 'volunteer' basis at this stage.

After widespread criticism about the men's youth, Musk released a statement about the appointments.

'Time to confess: Media reports saying that DOGE has some of world's best software engineers are in fact true,' Musk wrote on X.

GAVIN KLIGER, 25
Kliger was named by the New York Times as the account holder behind a controversial company-wide email sent to employees at USAid. The Berkeley graduate reportedly instructed all employees at the agency not to return to Washington headquarters on Monday.

Meanwhile, up to 600 staff began reporting they were being locked out of their work computer systems. The reports were similar to those experienced by Twitter employees during Musk's takeover and the transition to X.

Kliger has since published a Substack article - which subscribers can read for $12 per month - titled: 'Why DOGE. Why I gave up a seven-figure salary to save America.'

Matt Hopson, who Trump appointed as the new chief of staff at USAid, reportedly resigned after the incident. Trump has ordered a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance.

Trump said the department had been 'run by a bunch of radical lunatics', insisting he is simply 'getting them out, and then we'll make a decision.'

The agency spends about $70billion a year in foreign aid. Projects include HIV/Aids treatments and encouraging women's health in conflict zones.

LUKE FARRITOR, 23
Luke Farritor has a known link to Musk already, having interned for SpaceX prior to landing his new gig.

Farritor dropped out of the University of Nebraska in order to begin working for Nat Friedman, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur behind GitHub. Friedman described Farritor as 'a national treasure' after his appointment with DOGE was made public.

He won part of a $700,000 prize in 2024 after using AI technology to help decipher a 2,000 year old document - part of the Vesuvius scrolls from Pompeii - which scientists had been trying, and failing, to solve for centuries. The charred scroll was believed burnt beyond recognition.

EDWARD CORISTINE, 19
The youngest of Musk's elite squad is just 19 and a student at Northeastern University in Boston. Coristine reportedly interned at Musk's Neuralink for three months last summer, after graduating high school.

Little is known about Coristine's role at DOGE, however he is listed as an 'expert.'

WIRED cited sources alleging Coristine has been conducting calls with staff in the department and making them 'go over code they had written and justify their jobs.' Employees were allegedly confused by his inclusion in the meetings, and later expressed concerns that they were not properly briefed on his identity or role, even during the call.

Coristine's father, Charles, is the CEO of popcorn empire, LesserEvil. Coristine once worked as a team member for the brand.

Up until recently, Coristine reportedly used a social media handle named '@EdwardBigBaller.'

AKASH BOBBA, 21
Bobba is another 'expert' within the department still studying at the University of California, Berkeley. According to a former LinkedIn account, which has since been deleted, Bobba was an investment engineering intern at a hedge fund. He had also previously interned for Meta and Palantir - who was founded by 2016 MAGA donor, Peter Thiel.

Just six years ago, Bobba was the organizer behind the Princeton Junction, New Jersey, local model United Nations. His father is an academic in computer science.

ETHAN SHAOTRAN, 22
Shaortran founded Energize AI - a scheduling assistant for professionals. The startup earned a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023.

The 22-year-old said in September he was a senior at Harvard University, and was reportedly working in the school's computing lab on autonomous vehicles. Musk is famously trying to develop self-driving cars at his Tesla headquarters.

Shaortran is part of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and worked as a scuba divemaster in Hawaii over a gap year.

He also has a unique link to Musk, having participated in his xAI 'hackathon'. He and his team were runner ups after they used xAI's Grok to create plausible responses from X followers to a hypothetical question.

GAUTIER COLE KILLIAN, 24
Killian was working as an engineer at Jump Trading, which specializes in high-frequency financial trades and algorithms. Now, he is reportedly working as a 'volunteer' with DOGE, although in what capacity remains unclear.

The 24-year-old graduated McGill University.

MUSK'S DOGE BOASTS SWEEPING POWER
Musk is leading an extraordinary civilian review of the federal government with Trump's agreement.

'It became apparent that it's not an apple with a worm it in,' Musk said in a live session on X Spaces early Monday.

'What we have is just a ball of worms. You've got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It's beyond repair.'

Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11140 views ]  Top

#1 Hiring smart people not infected with GIVERnment worker bad habits is a solid move by Musk.
Posted by Airandee 2025-02-05 03:18||   2025-02-05 03:18|| Front Page Top

#2 Perhaps I am swimming against the tide, but please show me the authority Musk has for invading gov’t spaces, unleashing an army of unvetted whatevers to dive into our country’s finance and personnel records. I have seen nowhere that these people seire any sort of oath of loyalty to the US as I did when serving or Mrs. Ret in her gov’t career; to me it looks like a rabble not much different from a a smash and grab in a jewelry store. And nobody has said one word about the obvious conflict of interest musk has in accessing contracts; do his competitors get a courtesy copy of the same data? Yes I voted for Trump over the Word Salad Queen but not for this ransacking of the gov’t. Musk reminds me of a little yippy ankle biter dog always in the way that you just want to kick away but refrain out of civility.
Not saying things need to be done but it appears that there is only one tool in Musk’s
hand, and that is a hammer and he sees everything as a nail.
Leaving the legality of these civilian gov’t worker buyout/ loyalty oath/firings for another time.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2025-02-05 09:08||   2025-02-05 09:08|| Front Page Top

#3 UN chief sounds the alarm amid fears over possible DOGE-inspired cuts after Trump's order
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-05 09:24||   2025-02-05 09:24|| Front Page Top

#4 /\ I can see where you're coming from USN Ret, but I suspect Musk is trying to prevent what we're seeing currently in South Africa, from happening here. His folks and other family members (still living there) are probably giving him rather frightening SITREPS.

The recent USAID revelations (which many suspected were happening), is enough to turn DOGE lose on my county commissioner.
Posted by Besoeker 2025-02-05 09:26||   2025-02-05 09:26|| Front Page Top

#5 DOGE is not a government agency but has been tasked by the White House’s executive office with dismantling wasteful spending initiatives, and "special government employee" Elon Musk's most recent target is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-05 09:36||   2025-02-05 09:36|| Front Page Top

#6 Hillary Clinton's latest act of hypocrisy stuns Americans as she attacks Elon Musk

'Elon Musk is mounting a blitzkrieg-style administrative coup of the US government, accessing and editing critical systems that manage everything from Social Security payments to private taxpayer information,' said Clinton, who attempted to hide the deletion of over 30,000 emails from her private server.
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-05 09:52||   2025-02-05 09:52|| Front Page Top

#7 Thanks, B, but last I checked there were only 3 branches of thr government, not some renegade privateer. Jan. 6 folks were arrested and locked up for causing a ruckus in the Capital, but not one bit of law enforcement action for Musk’s actions. Please, anyone show where this doge thing is legal. Because Trump says so?
Trump ain’t a king so he doesn’t get to make the rules.
And the testicullarly challenged Congress that continues to not even question him scares me also.
Posted by USN, Ret. 2025-02-05 11:08||   2025-02-05 11:08|| Front Page Top

#8 ‘Dead or Alive:’ Boston U. Employee Threatens Elon Musk’s DOGE Staffers
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-05 11:09||   2025-02-05 11:09|| Front Page Top

#9 Please, anyone show where this doge thing is legal. Because Trump says so?
Trump ain’t a king so he doesn’t get to make the rules.

He is the Executive in charge of the Executive Branch that these minions work under. They derive any authority through his delegated power. Musk doesn't make decisions on firings or Department eliminations. He is bringing the Bobs to ask: "Just what is it you do here?"
Posted by Frank G 2025-02-05 11:28||   2025-02-05 11:28|| Front Page Top

#10 DOGE is legal because it is a re-naming of an Obama office to improve software efficiency. Twitchy

Trump did his homework.
Posted by Bobby 2025-02-05 11:54||   2025-02-05 11:54|| Front Page Top

#11 ^If it were Illegal, wouldn't SCOTUS be very busy now?
Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-02-05 12:01||   2025-02-05 12:01|| Front Page Top

#12 ^ USN Ret

You have a good point. Starting in the 90s, the Federal Govt. started having contractors deeply involved in policy in many of the cabinet departments and sometimes action instructions were issued by these contractors without the signature of actual government employees. Mostly, this was stopped under W.
It is certainly legal for contract employees or, for that matter, non employees, to draft proposals, instructions, contracts, etc. However, the final product should be signed by someone with authority to sign it.
Posted by Lord Garth 2025-02-05 12:02||   2025-02-05 12:02|| Front Page Top

#13 Musk and his minions haven't "invaded" anything. They are RESEARCHERS, uncovering the byzantine schemes various agencies have used to funnel and hide money...and what many agencies (FBI, et al) have done to weaken America. They are reporting what they discover back to Trump. HE will take action, or not...his call.
Posted by Go DOGE! 2025-02-05 12:16||   2025-02-05 12:16|| Front Page Top

#14 I'm glad USN, Ret. asked the question. An opportunity to learn!
Posted by Bobby 2025-02-05 13:07||   2025-02-05 13:07|| Front Page Top

#15 Responding to Go DOGE: reporting is one thing, duplicating/modifying gov’t code is another.
Thanks.
Posted by USN, Ret. 2025-02-05 13:12||   2025-02-05 13:12|| Front Page Top

#16 All that legal stuff does not compute for my brain, so good find, Bobby.

I had been thinking of the DOGE group as merely outside auditors, the kind private businesses are required to bring in to examine and certify the work done by the accounting department and the internal auditors. What I have been finding comforting is the kinds of things revealed by DOGE that the departments and inside auditors — so many of whom President Trump recently fired — have been ignoring, glossing over, or conniving to achieve. Not having had a sworn duty, USN, Ret’s concerns had not occurred to me.

Thank you for raising the question, USN, Ret!
Posted by trailing wife 2025-02-05 13:25||   2025-02-05 13:25|| Front Page Top

#17 Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Move Trans Women to Men’s Prisons
Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-02-05 13:27||   2025-02-05 13:27|| Front Page Top

#18 So Daily Mail is capable of producing an investigative report.

Say...this isn't a dox threat, is it? Little bit of bitterness with USAID shut down?
Posted by swksvolFF 2025-02-05 15:48||   2025-02-05 15:48|| Front Page Top

#19 And yes, good legal points at #2.
Posted by swksvolFF 2025-02-05 16:04||   2025-02-05 16:04|| Front Page Top

#20 #17 unless the judge can show Congressional legislation that authorized it, it's a violation of separation of powers for them to butt in. That's a problem they're going to face. If it was done by EO it can be undone by EO.

When they tell us who was putting EOs in front of Biden to sign for the last 2 years, then I'll worry about what Trumps agents, Musk Inc., are doing. Those people had no more authority over the government than the DOGE boys, but it was all shoved under the carpet.
Posted by Procopius2k 2025-02-05 17:43||   2025-02-05 17:43|| Front Page Top

#21 All that said, it has come to this point, and if there isn't a plan with such issues already internally addressed, its one hell of a bluff, and in its way they are ceding the authority to DOGE up front like they know they are cooked.
Posted by swksvolFF 2025-02-05 18:15||   2025-02-05 18:15|| Front Page Top

#22 " Perhaps I am swimming against the tide, but please show me the authority Musk has for invading gov’t spaces, unleashing an army of unvetted whatevers to dive into our country’s finance and personnel records."

Since Obama already handed over the OPM database to chairman Xi, we've already had the worst case scenario with our government abusing to death two million or so people at his direction. We swallowed the camel, it's time to stop choking to death on gnats.
Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2025-02-05 18:29||   2025-02-05 18:29|| Front Page Top

#23 Yes, you are swimming against the tide.
Posted by Glusomp Spealet4328 2025-02-05 19:03||   2025-02-05 19:03|| Front Page Top

#24 Dana Perino brutally slaps down Elizabeth Warren for moaning about 'unelected' Elon Musk
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-05 20:00||   2025-02-05 20:00|| Front Page Top

#25 Trump Treasury head defends Elon Musk's DOGE despite 'squawking' from critics
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-05 20:30||   2025-02-05 20:30|| Front Page Top

07:41 Procopius2k
07:37 Procopius2k
07:37 Super Hose
07:36 Besoeker
07:35 Besoeker
07:33 Super Hose
07:33 Besoeker
07:32 Super Hose
07:29 Super Hose
07:28 Super Hose
07:26 Besoeker
07:23 badanov
07:09 Besoeker
07:01 Besoeker
06:45 Besoeker
06:43 Richard+Aubrey+
06:38 NN2N1
06:28 Grom the Affective
06:25 Grom the Affective
06:23 Besoeker
06:23 Grom the Affective
06:20 Grom the Affective
06:15 Grom the Affective
06:12 Grom the Affective









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