The Ford School's Don Moynihan has written an article in The Atlantic examining DOGE and asserts it is a failure as an agency to promote efficiency in the government. Rather, Moynihan argues that DOGE and its actions are causing large disruptions in the functions of government and harming many vital federal operations. Moynihan supported this sentiment by stating that DOGE's efforts will "likely slow down the government." He added, "The state needs capacity to perform core tasks, such as collecting revenue, taking care of veterans, tracking weather, and ensuring that travel, medicine, food, and workplaces are safe."
Not only does DOGE impose immense threats to the inner-workings of government, but it also harms the work and livelihoods of thousands of federal employees. Moynihan discussed the importance of the work for federal employees: "Public-sector workforce motivation is not just about material needs; it arises from a sense of being involved in a team actively taking on important public goals. Senior employees will watch as those they recruited are shown the door, underlining the sense that their work is considered unimportant. And if no new employees are needed, senior employees might conclude that they don't really need to show up for work either." Not only is DOGE diminishing the value of public service work, but Trump and DOGE are actively seeking ways to make federal employment less appealing.
Moynihan wrote, "Take [Trump's] executive order ending remote work for all federal employees. As Musk and his former DOGE co-leader, Vivek Ramaswamy, explained in The Wall Street Journal, a one-size-fits-all back-to-office policy will generate 'a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome.'" Additionally, "Trump has also promised to reassign employees from the D.C. region, even though prior efforts resulted in mass exits," said Moynihan. Moynihan elaborated that what DOGE and Trump are doing is promoting a "toxic work environment" that he asserts is unprecedented over the 25 year's he's studied public administration.
Moynihan concluded by commenting on the sad departure of the thousands of non-partisan civil servants from the government. He stated, "Their exit will be our loss. We rely on public employees every day, usually not noticing how they make our lives better."
Read the full article in The Atlantic here.
