Musk is using a chainsaw for a job that needs a scalpel

The cuts and shutdowns of government departments and agencies by the Department of Government Efficiency have been dramatic and unprecedented. While no one has given this nickname to Elon Musk, “chainsaw” and not scalpel Elon might be appropriate. 

Already the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Education seemed to have fallen under the DOGE axe.

But one wonders what preparation DOGE has made in understanding the duties and responsibilities of each agency, what savings can be made and what efficiencies will be achieved. 

DOGE’s initial outings — particularly its freeze on government spending that had to be reversed to prevent the chaos that would have followed — exemplify the chainsaw method of approaching the government. 

The good work USAID has done in providing aid — especially regarding health and medical care, poverty and agriculture — seems to have been ignored. And how USAID disperses its $44 billion annual budget likewise is not unimportant. Nor is its management.  

The questions that should have been asked first are the validity and relevance of the disbursements of appropriated funds and the means and numbers of people to manage that.

The majority goes to contracts and contractors, followed by grants and cooperative agreements and a smaller percentage of direct government assistance. These are transfer payments. Without knowing how much and what is being spent in each category, there is no way of knowing how much efficiency and savings will be achieved or what consequences are likely, intended and otherwise.

Similarly, by eliminating the Department of Education, without an analysis of the consequences as well as what savings will be achieved or costs avoided, the advantages are still unknown. President Donald Trump argues that educational federal funds will be better spent if sent directly back to the states. Yet there is no analysis to support this contention.

In improving efficiency and cost savings, a macro look at the nation’s finances is important.  

For 2025, the federal budget will be about $7 trillion or about 23 percent of GDP. Revenues are projected at $5.2 trillion leading to a $1.9 trillion deficit. The obvious question is how much money can be saved or costs avoided and where can revenues be increased?

In 2024, the Biden administration estimated that uncollected revenues were about $700 billion and planned to hire more IRS agents to close that gap. Why DOGE has not focused so far on the budget and revenues to begin its work is a good question. Concentrating on relatively tiny areas of spending will not yield the necessary savings. 

Even if the USAID ($28 billion) and Education Department ($82 billion) budgets were deleted, that would equal around $110 billion, or about 6 percent of the deficit. Of course, a great deal of the Education budget cannot be deleted or cut.

I have previously argued that defense can be sustained with about a 30 percent cut to the active duty force of 1.3 million and the reserves over time and an annual budget of about $700 to $750 billion down from nearly $900 billion. Of course, given the perceived Chinese threats and the Ukraine war, calls for more and not less defense spending will carry the day.

Chainsaws are made for cutting down forests, not trimming unnecessary growth. The government is too large, and its size and spending can be reduced provided a careful analysis is made first to determine where and what to cut. And government is not a business and cannot be managed as such. 

As a start, DOGE should begin with the basics and provide the public with a plan of action. A seemingly erratic and piecemeal approach to this effort will not be well perceived.

Elon Musk, a non-elected official leading this effort with huge amounts of government funding that has made him rich, is not the best figurehead for public consumption. To counter this image, transparency is crucial. And so too is the need to assure the public that a scalpel and not a chainsaw is the better way to approach streamlining and improving government.

Harlan Ullman Ph.D. is United Press International’s Arnaud deBorchgrave Distinguished Columnist, senior advisor at Washington D.C.’s Atlantic Council, chairman of two private companies and principal author of the shock and awe military doctrine. His next book, due in 2025, is “The Great Paradox: Strategic Thinking in an Unstrategic World.”