Back in August, as speculation about a potential Elon Musk cabinet position began swirling, I wrote that the notion was laughable. Boy was I wrong.

Whether it sees Elon Musk’s DOGE as a success or a failure, Whitehall should see it as a warning. Because institutions which won’t reform themselves can only ever be reformed by outsiders, usually in unpredictable ways,

But the legion of Elon Musk acolytes who have set up shop inside federal agencies in the past few weeks do not appear to have been subjected to anything approaching rigorous scrutiny. President Donald Trump has also nominated to key national-security positions people whose personal and financial histories contain at least caution flags.

As tech billionaire Elon Musk expands his influence over more than a dozen U.S. federal agencies, frustration is growing among some top aides to President Donald Trump, who want more coordination from Musk's team as he slashes the U.