WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk's

role in the Trump administration is as a White House employee

and senior adviser to the president, and is not an employee of

the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has no

decision-making authority, the White House said in a court

filing on Monday.

According to a filing signed by Joshua Fisher, director of

the Office of Administration at the White House, Musk can only

advise the president and communicate the president's directives.

"Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no

actual or formal authority to make government decisions

himself," it said.

Fisher's filing, made in a case brought against Musk by the

State of New Mexico, said that Musk was not an employee of the

U.S. DOGE Service, or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary

Organization, and added: "Mr Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service

Administrator."

DOGE has swept through federal agencies since Donald Trump

began his second term as president last month and put Musk, the

chief executive of carmaker Tesla , in charge of

rooting out wasteful spending as part a dramatic overhaul of

government that has included thousands of job cuts.