*

Order requires agencies to work with Elon Musk's DOGE

*

Law enforcement, national security, immigration employees

exempt

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Federal judge has blocked buyout offers for federal

workers

(Updates after order has been signed and adds detail

throughout)

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) -

President Donald Trump ordered U.S. agencies on Tuesday to

work closely with top adviser Elon Musk's effort to shrink the

federal workforce by identifying government employees who can be

laid off and functions that can be eliminated entirely.

With his 4-year-old son by his side or on his shoulders,

Musk stood alongside Trump in the Oval Office at the White House

before the order was signed, The billionaire answered questions

from reporters, making it clear that he is leading Trump's

government downsizing efforts.

Wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap, the world's

richest man defended his role as an unelected official who has

been granted unprecedented authority by the president to

dismantle parts of the U.S. government.

"You can't have an autonomous federal bureaucracy. You have

to have one that's responsive to the people," Musk said.

Musk, the Tesla CEO and owner of X, pushed back at

criticism that he and his Department of Government Efficiency

team have operated largely in secrecy.

"I fully expect to be scrutinized and get, you know, a daily

proctology exam, basically," Musk said. "It's not like I think I

can get away with something."

DOGE has operated in near-complete secrecy, providing no

information on whom it employs, where it is operating or what

actions it is taking inside government agencies. It posts few

actual results from its work, providing only dollar figures for

purported cuts in specific agencies and little specific detail.

Tuesday's executive order was the latest effort by Trump and

Musk to shrink and align the U.S. government with Trump's policy

priorities. There have already been large-scale buyout offers,

attempts to strip civil-service protections from federal workers

and the effective shuttering of some federal agencies.

The order sets forth rules requiring government agencies to

hire no more than one employee for every four workers who leave,

and it compels agencies to work with Musk's team to identify

large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency

components may be eliminated outright.

The order exempts from cuts those employees whose work is

critical to national security, public safety, law enforcement

and immigration enforcement.

Many government workers belong to labor unions, which means

any big layoffs or reductions in force must comply with their

collective bargaining agreements. Nonunion employees of the

civil service also enjoy job protections under federal law.

The push toward mass layoffs comes after the Trump

administration attempted to cajole federal workers into

accepting buyout offers. That effort has been blocked by a

federal judge.

BUYOUT BLOWBACK

Musk, who said he speaks to Trump nearly every day, pledged

on Tuesday to find $1 trillion in savings through his efforts to

identify fraud and waste in the government, a figure that would

represent almost 15% of total federal spending.

Trump resisted the suggestion by Democrats and other critics

that Musk's role presents a conflict of interest.

As CEO of rocket maker SpaceX, Musk oversees the company's

contracts with the Pentagon and intelligence community that are

worth billions of dollars.

"You know, (if) we thought that, we would not let him do

that segment or look in that area, if we thought there was a

lack of transparency or a conflict of interest," Trump said.

Beyond blocking Trump's buyout plan, the courts have also

paused his efforts to put U.S. Agency for International

Development workers on leave and Musk's access to sensitive

payment systems at the U.S. Treasury.

There are about 2.3 million U.S. civilian employees,

excluding the Postal Service. Security-related agencies account

for the bulk of the federal workforce, but hundreds of thousands

of people work across the country in jobs overseeing veterans'

healthcare, inspecting agriculture and paying the government's

bills, among other jobs.

Earlier, Musk made a post on his social media platform X

that harshly criticized firms that have filed lawsuits on behalf

of federal employees.

"Which law firms are pushing these anti-democratic cases to

impede the will of the people?" Musk wrote in the post.

Musk has also aimed his ire at judges who have issued

rulings that paused Trump's executive actions. "Democracy in

America is being destroyed by judicial coup," Musk wrote in a

separate post on Tuesday.

Trump voiced a similar complaint during his meeting with

Musk in the Oval Office.

"We want to weed out the corruption. And it seems hard to

believe that a judge could say, we don't want you to do that,"

he said. "So maybe we have to look at the judges, because that's

very serious. I think it's a very serious violation."