(Adds details about DOGE from court filings throughout)

By Tim Reid

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump has regularly praised tech billionaire Elon Musk's

Department of Government Efficiency for its role in cutting the

size of the federal workforce and halting thousands of

government programs and contracts.

In just nine weeks entire government agencies have been

dismantled and tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3-million

strong federal workforce have been fired or agreed to take a

buyout.

Critics say DOGE has been given extraordinary power by Trump

and that it operates with no oversight and in secret, although

Musk maintains it is transparent.

Lawsuits challenging DOGE's actions have offered glimpses into

its operations but also raised more questions, including whether

Musk is actually in charge of DOGE. Government court filings say

he is not, but Trump says he is.

WHAT IS DOGE?

DOGE was created by an executive order Trump signed on his

first day in office on January 20 to "modernize federal

technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and

productivity."

Despite its name, DOGE is not a government department

created by an act of Congress. It is a temporary organization

that took over an existing unit within the White House, the U.S.

Digital Service.

Its mandate, due to expire on July 4, 2026, now far exceeds the

confines of the language of the initial executive order as its

staffers sweep through government departments looking for

spending and staff cuts.

Musk, the world's richest person, does not draw a government

salary and operates as a "special government employee," with a

130-day limit to his role in remaking the federal bureaucracy,

the White House has said. Musk told Fox News in March he could

stay on for another year.

Facing questions from judges over who exactly is in charge

of the unit, the White House named Amy Gleason, a former

healthcare executive, as acting administrator.

In a court filing on March 19, Gleason said Musk does not

work at DOGE. "I do not report to him, and he does not report to

me. To my knowledge, he is a senior adviser to the White House,"

Gleason said.

However, in a speech to Congress on March 4, Trump said DOGE

"is headed by Elon Musk." Musk has also appeared before Trump's

cabinet at least twice and at a press briefing in the Oval

Office to explain the work of DOGE.

The DOGE team is small, with about 79 appointed employees and 10

employees seconded from other agencies, Gleason said in her

court filing.

"Every member of the agency's DOGE team is an employee of

the agency or a detailee to the agency," Gleason said. She added

that DOGE members report to their agency heads, not to her or

anyone else at DOGE.

Many of the staffers are young software engineers who are

current and former employees in Musk companies. They have little

to no experience inside the U.S. government.

Musk has said his goal is to find $1 trillion in savings.

The federal budget is set to reach about $7 trillion this year.

HAS DOGE SAVED MONEY?

According to its website, the only official window into its

operations, DOGE estimates it has saved U.S. taxpayers $115

billion as of March 24 through a series of actions including

workforce reductions, asset sales, and contract cancellations.

Yet its savings total is unverifiable and its calculations have

been riddled with errors and corrections.

In the "receipts" section of its website, DOGE has

repeatedly deleted some of its biggest claims to taxpayer

savings. For instance, it reported one $8 billion contract that

turned out to be worth only $8 million.

As of March 24, many of the contracts DOGE claims to have

cut have no identification in the receipts section, making it

difficult to verify what is being cut.

Musk has said DOGE will correct mistakes when it finds them.

WHAT HAS DOGE DONE?

Musk's team has driven cuts in parts of the federal bureaucracy,

hollowing out some agencies and sowing panic among much of the

government workforce.

To date, DOGE members have entered more than 20 government

agencies, gaining access to computer systems that contain

personal data of past and present federal workers and millions

more Americans.

Through the Office of Personnel Management, the U.S.

government's human resources arm, DOGE sent a buyout offer to

government workers in February. About 75,000 accepted the offer,

according to the White House.

It has fired or sent termination notices to at least 25,000

other government employees, starting with probationary workers,

who have fewer legal protections.

The Trump administration on March 24 asked the U.S. Supreme

Court to block an order by a U.S. District judge for government

agencies to reinstate thousands of probationary workers.

In February Trump signed an executive order telling agency heads

to work with DOGE to deliver plans by March 13 for "large-scale

reductions" in the federal workforce. White House officials are

now reviewing the plans, sources told Reuters.

WHICH AGENCIES HAVE BEEN TARGETED?

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which

provides a lifeline to the world's needy, has been shuttered and

thousands of its workers sent home.

Another agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,

which protects Americans from unscrupulous lenders, has also

been shut down. Many CFPB employees received termination

notices.

The CFPB has investigated claims about loan policies at Musk's

electric vehicle company Tesla, raising questions about

conflicts of interest. DOGE has also moved into NASA, an agency

where some of Musk's companies have billions of dollars in

government contracts.

On March 17, a DOGE team entered the nonprofit and

congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace, triggering a

lawsuit that claimed the DOGE staffers had entered the building

by force after Washington police were called in. The White House

accused USIP staffers of defying the president.

Tens of thousands of workers have been targeted for

dismissal at federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, which provides weather forecasting

and climate data; the Social Security Administration, which

provides benefits to retirees and the disabled; the

tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service; and the Department of

Veterans Affairs, which administers benefits and provides

medical care for military veterans.