- Three weeks into Trump’s second term, the makeup of Elon Musk’s DOGE staff is becoming clearer.
- BI saw a list of around 30 staffers at the White House DOGE office; nearly all are early or mid-career professionals.
- They include tech advisors, a former Clarence Thomas clerk, and a former McKinsey consultant.
Software developers. Former Supreme Court clerks. An ex-McKinsey consultant. Corporate financiers.
Three weeks into the second Trump administration, the composition of Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” team is becoming clearer.
White House records seen by Business Insider show around 30 people now work for the White House’s DOGE office. At least four of the names haven’t been previously reported. Among them are Kendall Lindemann, 24, who worked for a healthcare firm founded by senior DOGE official Brad Smith, and Adam Ramada, 35, an investor whose firm took a stake in a SpaceX supplier last year.
Other new names are Kyle Schutt, 37, a tech startup worker who was most recently employed at an AI interviewing software company, and Austin Raynor, 36, a lawyer who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Raynor was interviewed on NTD news in November 2024, outlining how Trump could challenge birthright citizenship.
Since January 20, the DOGE team has moved quickly to dismantle federal agencies, reduce staff, slow down enforcement, and gain access to the digital systems that help shepherd trillions of taxpayer dollars. While the US DOGE Service is part of the White House Office, the White House has not released details about its inner workings or staff; the list seen by BI helps shed light on the powerful young squadron tasked with remaking the federal government.
Most of the over two dozen people on the White House DOGE staff are early-career professionals in their 20s and 30s. They have backgrounds primarily in tech but also in finance, law, and politics. BI confirmed their backgrounds through public records, including social media profiles and legal filings.
The records categorize nearly all of the DOGE staffers as volunteers. Wired earlier reported that DOGE engineer Luke Farritor — who is also on the list seen by BI — posted to Discord looking for software engineers. He said that the position would be “paid,” but not by whom, according to the outlet.
The records seen by BI don’t include the names of some DOGE affiliates who have appeared in legal filings and news reports as working for other agencies, like Treasury employees Tom Krause and Marko Elez. Elez resigned from the Treasury Department last week after The Wall Street Journal reported on racist social media posts from an account linked to him; Musk said on X one day later that he would rehire him.
Beyond the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the executive order behind DOGE called for agencies to create their own “DOGE Teams,” and people linked to Elon Musk have popped up in employee directories at the Treasury Department, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Education and other agencies, according to news reports. Some of the people listed as White House DOGE staff are also employees of other agencies.
The White House did not reply to a request for comment.
Here’s a breakdown of the DOGE team.
Tech
Tech workers make up the largest chunk of the DOGE team on the list reviewed by BI.
Some are veteran software engineers. Schutt was most recently the chief technology officer at Kerplunk, an AI interviewing software startup, and has a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.
Schutt didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Others on the list are relatively junior. Edward Coristine is 19, and Farritor, 23, a former SpaceX intern, was a senior at the University of Nebraska when he was named a Thiel Fellow last year.
Two close associates of Musk are also on the list. Steve Davis, who was trained as an aerospace engineer, now leads The Boring Co., Musk’s tunneling company; Jehn Balajadia has been described as Musk’s assistant. The New York Times reported that she is also listed as a Department of Education employee.
Davis and Balajadia did not respond to requests for comment.
Finance
Some White House DOGE staff have corporate finance and management backgrounds.
Lindemann graduated from the University of Tennessee’s business college in 2022. She worked for McKinsey for about two years, according to her LinkedIn profile, and in 2024 left for Russell Street Ventures, the health-industry investment firm run by Smith, the senior DOGE official. Smith worked at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the first Trump administration. Lindemann worked at Russell Street Ventures as a venture associate, an entry-level job in the venture capital industry.
Lindemann, Davis, McKinsey, and Russell Street Ventures didn’t respond to requests for comment.
According to campaign finance records, White House DOGE staffer Ramada is a Miami-based venture capitalist who donated over $1,000 to Republican fundraising committees last year. One of his companies, Spring Tide Capital, invested in Impulse Space, which was founded by a SpaceX employee and has contracted with SpaceX.
Ramada and Spring Tide Capital didn’t respond to a comment request.
Law
There are five lawyers listed as part of the DOGE White House staff, and the majority have clerked for conservative Supreme Court justices.
Raynor, a graduate of the University of Virginia’s law school, clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court term that started in October 2016, and spent time as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell. During Trump’s first term, he served as an assistant to the Solicitor General. He has argued in front of the Supreme Court at least eight times. He was most recently a senior attorney and special counsel for the Supreme Court practice at the Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian organization.
Raynor’s November TV segment and Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship used similar language, though Raynor wasn’t the first person to make such arguments.
Raynor declined to comment when reached by BI.
Other names on the list, which have been previously reported, include Jacob Altik, Keenan Kmiec, and Stephanie Holmes. Altik has was selected to clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch for the term starting in October 2025, while Kmiec clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as clerking for Samuel Alito while Alito was still a federal circuit judge. James Burnham, who ProPublica described as DOGE’s general counsel, clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch and was previously a partner at the law firm Jones Day.
Politics
Of the list of White House DOGE staffers, only one appears to have previously worked in politics. Chris Young, who Musk hired as an advisor over the summer to help his get-out-the-vote work, was most recently a senior political advisor at PhRMA, a trade association that advocates on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. He was previously a national field director for the Republican National Committee. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Have a tip? Know more? Reach Jack Newsham via email (jnewsham@businessinsider.com) or via Signal (+1-314-971-1627). Do not use a work device.
Read the full article here
