DOGE eliminated the US government’s tech experts – what has been lost?

The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an independent task force, has shut down 18F, a group of in-house tech experts focused on improving efficiency in the US government. 18F consulted with other government agencies about adopting cost-effective technologies and built digital services for tasks including applying for passports and filing taxes online.

Initiatives like 18F and the US Digital Service (USDS), another government unit of tech consultants,  “created a rich professional network of doers, fixers and dreamers who could modernise government services”, says Daniel Castro at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank based in Washington DC.

He says the recent abrupt elimination of 18F could potentially stall US government projects – and he expressed scepticism that DOGE is the appropriate organisation to replace USDS or 18F in helping the US government make efficient use of technology. “I wouldn’t hire a demolition crew to build a skyscraper,” says Castro.

The US government typically spends more than $100 billion on IT services each year, but these expensive tech investments often fail to actually work as promised, according to the US Government Accountability Office. 18F helped avoid such waste by consulting with federal and state government agencies on which tech solutions to adopt, and determining which companies could provide them on time and within budget, says Dan Hon, an expert on government digital services and technology.

Three former 18F employees, who requested anonymity, described their recently cut work to New Scientist. One helped digitise a healthcare application system to make it easier for states to access federal Medicaid funds – these provide health coverage for 70 million Americans, including 40 per cent of all children and 60 per cent of all nursing home residents.

Another former employee worked with the US Department of the Interior on an interactive website that tracks environmental damage from the release of oil or other hazardous substances. Such data helped ensure the companies responsible for the damage, rather than taxpayers, would pay to clean it up, they said.

18F members had also been updating the National Weather Service’s forecast website to make it more user-friendly. The 18F team worked with the USDS to develop the free Direct File program, which allows people in participating states to file their taxes directly to the Internal Revenue Service instead of having to purchase tax preparation software or hire accountants. The government estimates more than 30 million taxpayers in 25 states are eligible for the service in 2025.

Now the future of these projects is uncertain. Since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025, he has renamed and remade the USDS as DOGE, which is nominally led by government official Amy Gleason but has in effect been commandeered by tech billionaire Elon Musk. Many former US Digital Service members have since been fired or resigned.

Musk took aim at 18F early on in Trump’s second administration, but former 18F employees did not receive an official “reduction in force” notice shutting down their organisation until 28 February. About 85 members of 18F were directly affected by the layoffs, with another three having taken an earlier buyout offer.

The elimination of 18F and a combination of layoffs and resignations from the former USDS team means there is no organisation left with a government-wide mission to develop and build technology, say former 18F employees. A spokesperson for the General Service Administration (GSA), a US government organisation that provides operational support to all federal agencies, says, “GSA will continue to support the Administration’s drive to embrace best-in-class technologies to accelerate digital transformation and modernise IT infrastructure.”