Elon Musk is preparing to exit his temporary position with the federal government, where he has led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) since its creation in January

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO announced Wednesday on X that his time as a “special government employee” is ending. “The ⁦‪@DOGE‬⁩ mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk wrote, thanking President Donald Trump for the opportunity. The White House confirmed Musk’s post and said the offboarding process would begin the same night.

As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.

The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025

DOGE was formed by executive order on Inauguration Day, January 20, with a mandate to target waste, fraud, and inefficiency across federal agencies. The office itself is temporary and scheduled to dissolve on July 4, 2026.

Musk’s role was created under a classification known as “special government employee,” a position authorized by Congress in 1962 for short-term federal work. These appointments are limited to 130 days in any 365-day period. Musk’s time officially runs out on May 30.

The administration had indicated from the start that Musk’s role would be temporary. In an April interview with Fox News, Musk said, “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that timeframe.”

President Trump had alluded to Musk’s eventual departure as early as March 31. “I think he’s amazing. But I also think he’s got a big company to run,” Trump told reporters. “I’d keep him as long as I can keep him,” the president added. “He’s done a good job. DOGE is, we’ve found numbers that nobody can even believe.”

During a Tesla earnings call on April 22, Musk signaled that he would begin to scale back his DOGE involvement in May. “I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done,” Musk said. He noted that he still plans to spend one or two days per week on government matters to help prevent fraud and waste from returning. “I think I’ll continue to spend, you know, a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it is useful.”

Though Musk has been the most visible figure in the DOGE initiative, court filings reveal that he is not part of the United States DOGE Service (USDS) workforce and does not report to its leadership. “Elon Musk does not work at USDS. I do not report to him, and he does not report to me. To my knowledge, he is a Senior Advisor to the White House,” Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of DOGE, wrote in a March court declaration.

The office Musk has helped lead grew out of the United States Digital Service (USDS), a technology-focused agency launched in 2014 under President Barack Obama. Trump’s January executive order renamed the agency and expanded its mission.

A separate court filing from February clarified Musk’s role further. A White House official stated that while Musk serves as a senior advisor to the president, he “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.”

Musk’s presence in government has drawn criticism from activists and Democratic politicians, with some calling for boycotts against Tesla and organizing protests targeting him and his businesses.