President Donald Trump is launching his Department of Government Efficiency within the White House’s governmentwide IT and design shop, according to an executive order he signed Monday evening.

Trump’s executive order makes DOGE an official, but temporary, part of the Executive Office of the President. That’s a different model than what Trump envisioned last November, when he said the government efficiency commission would advise, but not be part of the federal government.

Trump’s executive order rebrands the U.S. Digital Service, a team of tech and design consultants within the White House, as the “United States DOGE Service.” The Obama administration launched USDS in 2013 following the troubled rollout of HealthCare.gov.

Within USDS, the Trump administration will create a “U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization” that will disband on July 4, 2026 — a deadline already set by DOGE head Elon Musk.

The executive order gives agency heads 30 days to assemble a team of at least four employees to serve on “DOGE teams” that will report to USDS. Most agency DOGE teams will include a team, an engineer, a human resources specialist and an attorney.

“Agency heads shall ensure that DOGE team leads coordinate their work with USDS and advise their respective agency heads on implementing the president‘s DOGE agenda, the executive order states.

The executive order directs USDS to launch a software modernization initiative, focused on improving the “quality and efficiency” of governmentwide software, networks and IT systems.

Trump administration faces lawsuits over DOGE’s membership

The largest federal employee union is joining several groups in suing the newly sworn-in Trump administration over concerns about the makeup of its Department of Government Efficiency.

The American Federation of Government Employees, along with the nonprofits Public Citizen and State Democracy Defenders Fund, filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Office of Management and Budget just minutes after Trump was sworn into office for a second term.

The lawsuit claims Trump and OMB violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act, because DOGE members “do not have a fair balance of viewpoints,” its meetings are held behind closed doors and records from those meetings are not available to the public.

“While FACA permits the use of advisory committees, it imposes various guardrails to prevent them from turning into vehicles for advancing private interests in the federal decision-making process and secretly influencing federal officials’ exercise of policymaking discretion,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit comes less than a week after the heads of these organizations asked to become DOGE members. A transition spokeswoman told the New York Times in a statement last week that “we have no room in our administration for Democrats.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuits.

The Federal Advisory Committee Act applies any time an agency seeks advice from a group whose members aren’t all federal employees and gathers that feedback for the agency’s own operations or activities.

The General Services Administration, which oversees FACA, says the legislation wouldn’t apply if the head of an agency met with private-sector executives facing challenges similar to those facing the government — such as downsizing their workforce or cutting costs — as long as the agency didn’t solicit specific advice or recommendations from them.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley said he asked to join the government efficiency commission “for the voices of the thousands of federal workers who would be affected by DOGE’s recommendations.” According to the lawsuit, the union has not received a response from DOGE.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last November, DOGE leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy proposed major cuts to the size of the federal workforce, and to “identify the minimum number of employees required” at agencies.

Musk and Ramaswamy described themselves as “outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees,” and that the DOGE team “will work in the new administration closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget.”

The Associated Press reported Ramaswamy is expected to step down from his DOGE leadership role to fill Vice President J.D. Vance’s vacant Senate seat.

Kelley said in a statement Monday that federal employees “deserve to have their voices heard in decisions that affect their work, their agencies, and the public they serve.”

“AFGE will not stand idly by as a secretive group of ultra-wealthy individuals with major conflicts of interest attempt to deregulate themselves and give their own companies sweetheart government contracts while firing civil servants and dismantling the institutions designed to serve the American people,” Kelley said.

Trump said in November that DOGE will provide “advice and guidance from outside of government,” while “partnering with the White House Office of Management and Budget to drive large scale structural reform.”

The lawsuit also underscores potential conflicts of interest for DOGE leaders. Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, a company that holds billions of dollars in federal contracts, and is also the CEO of electronic vehicle manufacturer Tesla.

The lawsuits claim task forces under prior administrations complied with FACA requirements.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan launched the Grace Commission, a privately funded team of more than 160 private-sector executives and more than 2,000 volunteers to “work like tireless bloodhounds to root out government inefficiency and waste of tax dollars.” The commission disbanded after issuing its final report.

The Clinton administration launched the National Partnership for Reinventing Government in 1993, with a focus on making agencies run more efficiently. The commission proposed governmentwide cuts to the federal workforce, and received funding and logistics support from the Defense Department.

In 2011, the Obama administration launched a Government Accountability and Transparency Board comprised of agency inspectors general, chief financial officers, deputy secretaries and other senior officials.

Trump briefly mentioned DOGE during his inaugural address on Monday.

“The American Dream will soon be back and thriving like never before to restore competence and effectiveness to our federal government,” he said.

Musk told crowds at Capitol One Arena on Monday that DOGE would help ensure “sensible spending” across the federal government.

FACA prohibits committees from meeting or taking any action until a charter for the advisory committee has been filed, specifying the committee’s work and duties. But the lawsuit states “DOGE will be embedded within the White House, OMB, and other federal agencies very soon.”

“Operating without complying with FACA, DOGE has already begun developing recommendations and influencing decision-making in the new administration, even though its membership lacks the fair balance required by FACA and its meetings and records are not open to public inspection in real time,” the lawsuit states.

A coalition of other nonprofits and the American Federation of Teachers are leading a similar lawsuit over DOGE, and a third lawsuit is being led by the law firm National Security Counselors.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a fourth lawsuit to compel OMB to turn over documents between its staff, Trump transition officials and DOGE leaders.

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