President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday directing agency officials to draw up plans for “large scale” cuts to the federal work force and further empowered the billionaire Elon Musk and his team to approve which career officials are hired in the future.
The order gives the so-called Department of Government Efficiency vast reach over the shape of the Civil Service as the Trump administration tries to sharply cut the number of employees working for the federal government. It states that, aside from agencies involved in functions like law enforcement and immigration enforcement, executive branch departments will need hiring approval from an official working with Mr. Musk’s team.
Each federal agency, with some exceptions, will be allowed to “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart” after a hiring freeze is lifted, according to Mr. Trump’s order. New career hires would have to be made in consultation with a “DOGE Team Lead,” the order stated. It also said that agencies should not fill career positions that Mr. Musk’s team deems unnecessary, unless an agency head — not a member of Mr. Musk’s initiative — decides that those positions should be filled.
The “work force optimization initiative” was signed by Mr. Trump shortly before he and Mr. Musk spent roughly 30 minutes defending the drastic overhaul in front of reporters in the Oval Office. Mr. Musk, the world’s richest person, has moved rapidly to force change in Washington, an effort he asserted on Tuesday would benefit the public.
In the first three weeks of the new Trump administration, Mr. Musk’s team has inserted itself into at least 19 agencies, according to a tally by The New York Times, where it has begun identifying programs to cut.
The president’s new order instructed federal agencies to start initiating plans for “large scale” reductions in staffing. In the past few weeks, some agency leaders have already warned about impending cuts and urged federal employees to seriously consider the Trump administration’s offer to resign and be placed on paid administrative leave through the end of September. Although the offer was originally set to expire last week, the resignation program is now on pause until a federal judge in Massachusetts rules on its legality.
The order is the latest move by Mr. Trump to bolster the authority of Mr. Musk’s effort. On Inauguration Day, Mr. Trump signed an order that officially created the Department of Government Efficiency and gave the group the authority to install employees across federal agencies. He also signed another order empowering Mr. Musk’s team to work on a plan to slash the size of the federal work force through “efficiency improvements and attrition.”
Russell T. Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget whom Mr. Musk pushed to fill that role, said Tuesday’s executive order was the “next step” in changing the work force, insisting it was within Mr. Trump’s authority.
“Again, this is more action and activities that we can do,” Mr. Vought told Fox News soon after the order was signed. “The president can move forward unilaterally using the laws that are on the books to have reductions in force.”
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
