The recruitment effort that helped build the army of the Doges of Elon Musk

The creation of Elon Musk’s so-called Elon Musk efficiency department (DOGE) relied on a recruitment campaign carried out, in part, by young software engineers moving in online cat groups and servers Discordant, according to three sources and discussion newspapers examined by Wired. Some engineers are associated with the Palantant data analysis company or its co -founder and chairman of the board of directors – and Musk Ally – Peter Thiel.

As Doge’s staff – many of whom are young and little or no government experience – continue to access sensitive data in a dozen government agencies, this is the first overview of some of the networks from of which the agency recruited and to whom they invoked to enlist the talents.

In online cat groups linked to the alumni of Palantir and the interns of SpaceX, Musk’s Space Company, as well as in a discord associated with a military program of artificial intelligence, the engineers said that they were looking for people willing To spend six months in Washington, DC cutting the expenses – which represent approximately a quarter of the US gross domestic product – by a third party.

Anthony Jancs, one of the three engineers associated with the recruitment effort, is a former employee of Palantir. According to sources, Jancso said that he had been recruited in Doge by Steve Davis, the boring president of the company and Lieutenant de musc that Bloomberg reported in December directed recruitment for Doge.

Palant, Jancso and Davis did not immediately respond to requests for comments. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The curriculum vitae of Jancso lists him as graduate in 2021 of the University College of London and being a software engineer “deployed forward” at Palant between December 2021 and May 2023. Jancs is best known for directing a project called Accelerate SF , which aims to take advantage of AI in the public sector. In a story of 2023 on an upcoming hackathon, Venturebeat reported that Accelerate had received support from companies such as Openai and Anthropic. In 2024, the company became known as Acceleratex. A claim to offer “a modern operating system for the government”, Acceleratex says that it “transforms government infrastructure with automation and software supplied by AI, delivered in days”.

On November 26, 2024, in a message examined by Wired, a person using a screen name including the name Anthony and the same handle as Jancso uses on his X account published in a Discord server associated with the Generative Space Force AI Challenge – An ” The combination of eight weeks of the intensive AI price and problem -solving hacking that has engaged more than 350 participants, ”according to its website.

“Help the government’s efficiency department to find hardcore engineers,” said the message. “Send your GitHub / LinkedIn to @doge on X and your round X in DM if you are interested or know someone who is, could help them get them into the pipeline.”

At the beginning of December, in another message examined by Wired, a person using the same handle published in a discussion group for the alumni of Palantir.

“Hey to all,” said the message. “I help Elon’s team to find technological talents for the Government Ministry of Efficiency (DOGE) in the new administrator. This is a historic opportunity to build an effective government and reduce the federal budget by 1/3. If you are interested in playing a role in this mission, please contact the next few days. »»