Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency

US President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the fledgling Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk and Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, dramatically reduce overregulation, cut wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies,” Trump said in a statement.

Trump has been announcing the main cabinet officials in the last few hours which will premiere on January 20, 2025 when he assumes his second term at the head of the White House.

Musk leads electric car company Tesla, social media platform X and rocket company SpaceX, while Ramaswamy is the founder of a pharmaceutical company. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination against Trump and then threw his support behind the former president after dropping out.

Political and millionaire support

Musk gave millions of dollars to support Trump’s presidential campaign and made public appearances with him. Trump had said he would offer Musk, the world’s richest person, a role in his administration that promotes government efficiency.

The acronym of the new department -DOGE- coincides with the name of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency that Musk promotes.

“This will send shock waves through the system, and to anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said, according to Trump’s statement, which called the new government initiative “potentially ‘The Project’.” Manhattan’ of our time”, referring to the American plan to build the atomic bomb that helped end World War II.

Veteran, presenter and now secretary of defense

He also reported that he will nominate the presenter of Fox News ChannelPete Hegseth, to serve as Secretary of Defense.

“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” the president-elect said in a statement.

“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice: our Armed Forces will be great again and America will never go backwards,” he added.

Hegseth is a veteran of the Army National Guard and, according to his website, served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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