After some back and forth in court and with reporters, the White House finally revealed the name of the administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency — and it’s not Elon Musk.
The White House press office Tuesday said that Amy Gleason, who had not been publicly mentioned in relation to DOGE leadership previously, is acting director.
Her LinkedIn indicates she is a former senior adviser at the U.S. Digital Service, which is now DOGE. She worked for USDS during the first Trump administration. The news that she is leading DOGE was first reported by the Washington Examiner on Tuesday afternoon; the White House confirmed to NOTUS that Gleason is the “acting administrator.”
President Donald Trump and his administration have given contradictory answers — if they answer at all — as to who is leading DOGE. Prior to the reveal of Gleason’s role, press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to repeated questions about the identity of the administrator by saying, “There are career officials at DOGE. There are political appointees at DOGE. I’m not going to reveal the name of that individual from this podium.”
“We’ve been incredibly transparent about the way that DOGE is working,” she added.
Musk has been the public face of DOGE since its inception. Trump said Musk was in charge when the president first announced DOGE, and suggested as recently as last week that the billionaire holds some type of authority.
“I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency, and put a man named Elon Musk in charge,” Trump told a group of investors and company executives in Miami on Feb. 19.
But in a court filing last week, Office of Administration director Joshua Fischer said that Musk is a “non career special government employee” advising the president — not the administrator or even an employee of DOGE.
“Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions,” the filing reads.
Earlier this month, a senior adviser to the Treasury Department’s general counsel, Christopher Healy, had little to tell reporters who asked him who was running DOGE.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Healy told them.
It wasn’t clear whether someone was even in the role of administrator. During a hearing on DOGE’s access to Treasury records this week, lawyers representing the government couldn’t answer whether an administrator for the agency even existed.
“Is there an administrator of DOGE at the present time?” the judge asked Justice Department trial counsel Bradley Humphreys.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Humphreys said.
Gleason has not spoken publicly about her role.
Gleason’s Venmo account is public, which is a known security risk. It has been confirmed by NOTUS as belonging to her and includes transactions for items as varied “nails” to “Jell-O shots.” Gleason’s Venmo account was still public as of Tuesday afternoon.
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Nuha Dolby is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.