DOGE isn’t dead—it’s been absorbed into the bloodstream of the government, federal employees say

Although the Office of Personnel Management has said the Trump-era special advisory DOGE no longer exists as a centralized entity, Fortune reporting shows its personnel and programs have been absorbed into agencies such as HHS and the IRS, with former DOGE operatives (Amy Gleason, Clark Minor) now holding agency roles and driving initiatives like AI integration and Treasury-directed coding assessments via HackerRank. The effort coincides with roughly 1,446 federal terminations in the administration’s second term and severe understaffing at the IRS—some offices operating at about one-third of prior headcount—raising the prospect of a strained tax filing season, degraded internal reviews and broader operational risks for federal services. For investors, the episode underscores continued administrative reshaping of federal IT and workforce practices, potential disruption to agency operations and service delivery, and evolving opportunities and risks for government technology vendors and contractors.

Analysis

Fortune reporting indicates that the Trump-era special advisory DOGE, which OPM Director Scott Kupor told Reuters “doesn’t exist” as a centralized entity and was scheduled to end July 4, 2026, has in practice had its personnel and programs absorbed into agencies such as HHS and the IRS; former DOGE figures Amy Gleason and Clark Minor now hold agency roles driving initiatives including AI integration. The Treasury Department’s chief information officer and DOGE operative Sam Corcos directed recent coding assessments administered via HackerRank at the IRS, while court documents show roughly 1,446 federal terminations since the start of the administration’s second term. IRS staff report some offices are operating with about one-third of last year’s workforce, leaving December unusually busy and raising the prospect of the “roughest filing season” since the pandemic and potential degradation of internal review quality. The persistence of DOGE principles (de-regulation, efficiency drives, workforce reshaping) creates both operational risk for federal service delivery and a strategic demand signal for government technology and AI vendors; Clark Minor’s Palantir background and the article’s PLTR tagging highlight a direct personnel-to-vendor linkage, while Elon Musk’s comment that DOGE saved $100–200 billion in “zombie payments” but was only “somewhat successful” tempers expectations of uniform cost savings.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Monitor HHS and Treasury contract announcements and OMB directives for AI integration as potential revenue catalysts for government tech vendors, particularly in cybersecurity and workforce automation
• Assess exposure to contractors with personnel ties to DOGE operatives (e.g., Palantir-related relationships) but differentiate near-term procurement delays from longer-term program demand
• Exercise caution on names relying on steady IRS operations or taxpayer-facing volumes given reported one-third staffing and potential for service disruptions; consider hedges or reduced cyclicality in government-services allocations