Musk appears to be bringing his Twitter takeover playbook to the public sector, and, as they did at the social media company, his moves are causing chaos and confusion for federal workers. The richest man in the world has attempted to reduce costs and gut entire departments,

DOGE has gained access to government employees' sensitive information via the Office of Personnel Management, payment systems at the Treasury Department and Centers for Medicaid and Medicare this week.

Even as Mr Musk was speaking, workers at USAID ’s headquarters in Washington were being told not to come in the next day. Some 600 of the agency’s staff seem to have been locked out of their emails. That followed a weekend in which the agency’s website went offline;