DOGE’s heavy-handed approach is not likely to make the government more efficient

“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy!” Elon Musk, center, told the audience at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference on February

Whether or not you agree with the assertion that the US federal government should be shrunk dramatically because it is bloated and inefficient, the attempt to do so by Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency has been chaotic, confusing, abrupt and publicly contemptuous of federal agencies, their employees and the work they do. Musk has bragged about feeding USAID into the “woodchipper” and “deleting” agencies. In front of a crowd at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference, he delivered an impromptu performance with a chainsaw given to him on stage by Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei. “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy!” he yelled. “Chainsaw!” In some ways, his approach seems to echo his heavy-handed moves when he took over Twitter in 2022. But will the DOGE attempt at a breakneck-speed transformation succeed in turning the federal government into a lean, efficient organization? Almost certainly not, say two leadership experts who advise top executives and organizations on big turnarounds and strategy. Here is how Navalent co-founder and managing partner Ron Carucci, who works with CEOs pursuing transformational change, put it based on the publicly available reports he’s seen: “If you were looking to leave your organization in shambles, unable to perform after downsizing, leaving workers in a paralyzed state of fear, resentment and sabotage, (Musk’s) doing a marvelous job.”