Waiting for Doge

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Listen to the sixth bureau from Bloomberg Podcasts, starting on February 13th on the I-Heart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every time I hear Peace Corps, I have no idea why, but I always think about "Cats Stevens," "Peace Train."

“I think of the Frank Zepasong who needs the Peace Corps.”

"Oh, can I relevant to what we're talking about today?" "Play the song." I'm investigative journalist Jason Leopold. I spend most of my days getting documents from the government. Learning that topic, and I fight them in court to open their files when they don't want

to. From Bloomberg and No Spiral, this is Disclosure, a podcast about fine loose government secrets, the Freedom of Information Act, and the unexpected places that takes us. So I managed to just want to give you a heads up, I'm in the office today, but we may be interrupted by a fire drill, which means that I will immediately have to exit the

office. This is not like I'm in high school. I'm like, "Fire drill." I'm gone. No need to return to school.

"Oh, you just went home, then. I like it." Yeah, I just went home. Here I actually have to come back to the office. But in the meantime, we've got Peace Corps to talk about.

So back in April, I saw a headline, "Doge Eyes Cuts to Peace Corps." With in-person visit and records access, and I was like, "Doge at the Peace Corps?"

As far as I was concerned, two months into the Trump administration, you can never ask

too many questions about what Doge was up to. Basically, what I started out doing, just, I don't know, a week after Trump was sworn in his president. I immediately began covering Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Officiency. "Doge."

The government is just like the DMV that got big.

“When you say this have the government do something, you should think, "Do you want”

the DMV to do it?" I've instructed him to go, check out education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military. So, I was following Doge at this time, and also following the individuals who worked with Doge.

Young men in women in tech, many who had worked for Musk. And what they were doing was season control of these agencies to essentially dismantle the agencies under the banner of efficiency. The administration, and we believe driven largely by Elon Musk's priorities, really took a sledgehammer to the work we're doing.

"This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy." Early targets were the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Education, the Department of Defense, and especially foreign aid programs, programs like the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. In February, Doge went in there.

“And again, when I say Doge, you have to think of it as four or five kids.”

They call them the Doge kit. They were in their 20s, have zero experience working in government. Went into USAID, took over the agency, and they gained access to the data, they got a list of all the contracts, they fired staff, and essentially piece by piece just dismantled this entire agency that's been around for decades.

Doge cut more than 80% of USAID programs.

Basically, overnight, programs for HIV, and AIDS treatment, and prevention, malaria, child

health care, gone. Thousands of grants and contracts were halted or completely terminated. And now we're getting an idea that these moves that USAID are already having a life and death impact around the world. One group, impact counter, estimates that the program cuts have already resulted in more

than 600,000 deaths around the world, including more than 400,000 children.

When no one was working at these agencies, and there's so much secrecy around Doge.

So I decided, I want to find out what's going on behind the scenes. And then I saw this headline in the Guardian on April 4th. Think about it. It's the Peace Corps. It wasn't like, Doge is going into the NSA.

It was just like, really, the going into the Peace Corps, like, what's going on there? So the very next day on April 5th, I filed this request with Peace Corps.

“And you have to remember, let's just go back to April.”

It seems like a long time ago, but the public really wasn't getting an opportunity to visualize what a visit from Doge, more or less entailed. I mean, we kind of heard bits and pieces of it. You know, they were going into the agencies and demanding data, but really what was happening behind the scenes, and I kind of wanted to capture that through Documents.

Yeah. And Doge transparency is an issue that manifests itself in lots of different places. I mean, they were taking the position that they're not subject to FOIA, because they're within the executive office, the president, and, you know, that would largely let them operate in secret while having, let's just call it a significant impact on the federal

government. Exactly. So I asked for a whole bunch of different records. I wanted to get a list of all the Doge employees who are onboarded at Peace Corps. One reason for that, by the way, is that other than a few names, the identities of those

who were connected to Doge was a secret. So journalists were kind of scrambling to figure out who these people were. I asked for a list of all the words that were banned or prohibited or restricted from being used at Peace Corps in response to Trump's DEI executive order, any request for data that Doge

“had sought, all communications that reference Doge, so what kind of records did you get?”

So it didn't take that long for the agency to respond, but I entered into a negotiation with them. Something that I don't often do, Matt, as you know, because I wanted to get some records quickly. I narrowed the request a bit. I told them that I would accept these rolling releases,

right? Where they can send me documents every month.

And so the first batch of records I received, there were 54 pages of emails from about

mid-February to mid-April. And what I got was a really great snapshot of what it's like to be inside of an agency waiting for Doge. Ah, waiting for Gadoge. So where do we start?

Let's go back to February.

“The Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. is a glassy mid-rise in Noma.”

It's facade or rippling curtain of windows. Inside, I imagine staffers who keep the organization's global volunteer programs running are following from page news closely, as Doge descends on agencies all around them. Breaking news of the future of the U.S. agency for international development. Less than two miles away on February 1st, USAID's website goes dark and staff emails shut

down. Staffers were told not to come into work today at the agency's D.C. headquarters. Nine days later, just down the street from USAID. Tests was gathered outside the CFPB's headquarters in D.C. Doge shuddered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters and demanded employees

stay home. They're going to put the EPA on February 12, landing at the Environmental Protection Agency. And now it's February 14th, Valentine's Day, an email goes out to Peace Corps staffers,

and for the first time Doge is entered in boxes at the Peace Corps.

Not literally, this is just the first email about Doge, according to my records. I mean, it kind of cracked me up a bit because the subject line says that welcome team exercise. And it says team, we will be running an exercise of our welcome team SOP, meaning standard operating procedure. You will be contacted at some point during the exercise to simulate the convening of the team to welcome in simulated Doge team participants.

Oh, that's all that way. I'm sorry. I got unpackaged. So they know Doge is going to come at some point. Right. So they have like a designated welcome team. Okay. So not too strange, but then they're doing drills, drills. Like the fire drill that I have coming up here, Matt,

it sounds like what would happen if like a head of state from another country was coming for a visit. You would have all these formal protocols and you would rehearse and all that. And that's what they're doing at the Peace Corps getting ready for Doge to come visit.

I guess it makes sense from the agency's perspective.

Like their future existence is on the line here, right? Doge may be coming in and wiping them out. So I could see why they would be taking the visit very seriously. So who sends the email do we know? Well, all the recipients and the sender, their names are redacted under a privacy exemption. I'm not terribly interested in, you know, in the names.

But really, again, I wanted to get these records and I wanted to try to get them quickly. Okay. So you get the the the welcome Doge team email. What else did you get? It's more emails about the buildup to Doge's arrival. And so there's another email in here.

“Subject line Doge laptop preparation. I'm like, what's that about?”

Ooh, that's two weeks later. But this email says, see below for the laptop preparation statements, you request it. And so there's a couple of scenarios here. It says, scenario one, that PC, meaning Peace Corps receives Doge names in advance. So if that happens, laptops will be immediately available to Doge staff on arrival and headquarters. All laptops will be pre-configured with the identified software install.

Accounts created and access is granted. scenario two Doge arrives on an ounce. Four laptops have been set aside and pre-imagined preparation of Doge's arrival. Upon receiving the names of the Doge staff, hosting services will manually create their accounts. Upon creation of their accounts, the service desk will immediately configure each laptop, load profiles, and install software.

OCIL, that's the office of the chief information officer, will require 90 minutes from

receipt of the Doge team names to laptop prep completion. This is amazing. This is painting a

picture for me. Not of an agency that's going to be confrontational with Doge, but instead is going to try to like be as accommodating as possible. I guess presumably with the hopes that that will help them survive. Look how quick we look. We already have your laptops ready, sir. Right. To me, it's kind of, it seems like they're being compliant. This is fascinating to me, because this is painting a very clear picture of the impact that Doge is having on this

particular agency. And I mean, there's whatever people say publicly. And there's a line of

“FOIA like court decisions that sort of talk about the idea of like FOIA is really important”

for people to understand like what's really going on. To understand whether there's a difference between what the government is saying publicly and what the government is saying privately. And that is a core value that FOIA is supposed to be private. And what you've got here is, I mean, it's vividly clear how peace core was viewing this just by seeing behind the scenes, how they're preparing to deal with. Right. And to be clear, they're not doing anything wrong,

but it's like, wow, you know, look at what they are doing just to a prepare for their arrival. I think my own personal view is there is something wrong with the scenario in which agencies instead of like doing their work are having to obsess over these kinds of details for fear that they're just going to be promptly wiped out. I mean, that's, we ought to know that. I mean, that's a cost that is being paid. That's an agency that isn't fulfilling its mission. And, you know,

the people can dispute whether it's a mission that ought to be served or not, or whether it's obsolete, and whether they're doing a good job or not, or whether we should get rid of them.

But the reality is that the work of peace core was clearly impacted by having to deal with all this,

which shouldn't be surprising, but it's very vivid to actually see that manifest itself. Totally. And so just about a week later, now we're in March 3rd. Are the cherry blossoms out?

“This is, this is beginning in March. I think this is probably like cherry blossom time, isn't it?”

Yeah, I'm visualizing it. So another email, subject line, doge, welcome team meeting. And again, the sender and recipient of these emails, those names are redacted. Peace core, welcome team. The doge team has arrived at peace core headquarters. This is not a drill. Please join this welcome team call now. Matt, this is not a drill. It's not a drill. It's not a drill. How many explanation points? No, no explanation points. No, just just a period. So I should say that's my

emphasis. But I guess you can read it this way, since there is no explanation point. Oh my God. Well, by the way, speaking of drill, that is an actual fire drill that's happening right now. And this is not a drill. No, this is not a drill. This is not a drill. I literally have to go. I got to go. I'm going to be yelled at. Okay, I guess we're going to a break now. The news doesn't stop on the weekends. Context changes constantly. And now Bloomberg is the place to

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Andy's back. Matt right before I had a quickly exit for a fire drill. We were talking about these emails. And I actually think the email that says this is not a drill is actually a drill because fast forwarding four days later, it says in the subject line exercise and there's like stars next to exercise, Josh team in the building. So also I said that like I read, I read this email as if it had explanation points. Right. And actually, let me let me read it to you without the explanation points.

Exercise exercise exercise, exercise. Peace core welcome team. The Josh team has arrived at

Peace core headquarters. This is not a drill. They joined this welcome team called now.

I don't think they were ever going to be excited to have a doge. They're just like everyone. Josh is coming. This is not a drill. The leader is here. The leader is here. Josh team has arrived at Peace core headquarters. Okay. This is not a drill. Okay. So now we're going to jump to a March 3rd email. This is the same day as this is not a drill email. So the subject line of this email is doge access to PC systems. Now this is just taking

“taking that subject line and kind of building off that that is really important because what has”

been presented as highly controversial is Josh's access to agency data systems. Databases, various data systems. There have been stories published about Josh's access to IRS data to data, DHS and other agencies. So here is an email that says, Josh access to PC systems. The only name visible here is Joaquin Ferrell. Joaquin is the inspector general of the Peace core. The inspector, the inspector general. He's the person. Okay. Correct. Joaquin

Ferrell is the inspector general. Has worked at Peace core for nearly 17 years. And the email says, "Hi Joaquin, we compile the list of PC systems and started prepping the procedures for providing access to them if and when requested." The question came up as to whether IG systems should be on that list. Meaning the list of systems that doge can gain access to. Nonetheless, I wanted to reach out to you to determine if IG systems should be included or not. To date,

I have not received any guidance on how this is being handled at any agency. I appreciate your

“thoughts on this matter." So I mean, inspector's general played a very important role that is”

not unlike the role that doge was purportedly going to be playing. The job of the OIG is to root out waste fraud and corruption in the agencies that they're involved with, right? Exactly. The watchdogs within government agencies that investigate waste fraud and abuse, retaliation, harassment, whistleblower compliance. So what's an inspector general data sets? What kind of stuff is going to be in there? They're investigative files. So more than 70 government agencies have

inspectors general and so they conduct investigations, they field various compliance, and they'll conduct interviews. And so the identities of whoever they conducted interviews with or if there's any whistleblowers in there, those will be part of IG files. So the concern may be that you're giving doge access to information about whistleblowers, which might otherwise be protected or what otherwise be protected. Right. Exactly. But it's also important to note here that the Trump administration

has fired many inspectors general since January. And the administration is no fan of oversight. They're trying to weaken IGs. So it's scrutiny for everyone else and essentially impunity for us.

anything that happens going forward on our watch, and when there's no need for an inspector general

“to be nose it around cause and trouble. Right. We can do that. Not saying that that has any”

direct connection here because no response to that email or at least if there is one, it wasn't included

in our batch of records. So the next set of emails that we see are March 25 to 26. And it's the first time

that we're seeing a thread from safety and security. The timing of this correspondence is interesting because of what's happening at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Three miles west of the Peace Corps, Doge has been trying to take charge of another agency in one of the more unusual encounters. Breaking news about the Department of Government efficiency and the showdown with the U.S. Institute of Peace. So the U.S. Institute of Peace was created in 1984 as an independent nonprofit funded by Congress.

It's sort of a non-partisan agency for studying conflicts and how to resolve them. In the late February and executive order branded U.S. Institute of Peace unnecessary and the administration wanted to dismantle it. And in mid-March around the time these Peace Corps emails are circulating a bunch of board members at the U.S. Institute of Peace are fired and there was a scuffle. Doge members accompanied by FBI agents to send on the U.S. Peace building.

But they can't get in. Two days later, FBI agents visit a security employee at halt trying to get

access to the U.S. Institute of Peace. They still can't get in. And finally, on their third attempt,

Doge enters the building. By apparently threatening the federal contracts for the outside private security firm that the Institute employees according to Politico. And U.S. Institute of Peace employees then call DC police and report Doge members for unlawful entry. Wow. Yeah, I mean, this was a big deal. The cops show up in ultimately helped Doge take over the building. So this is sort of a cautionary tale for what happens to these agencies when they resist Doge's efforts.

“So Institute for Peace is involved in a standoff. Exactly. That's what it was. I love it.”

And this story more or less suggested it was a standoff. Well, because they, they're like, "No, you're not coming in and they had." Right. They became the Institute of Confertation. Right. And I should know, I tried to reach the Institute for Common and didn't get any response because Doge effectively shut it down. So, Matt, these email exchanges are taking place on the heels of a very public confrontation between Doge and the U.S. Institute

of Peace. So, let's go back now to the email March 25th from Peace Corps Safety and Security. And again, this email has a number of redacted names, but there are a couple that are unredacted. And those names are Karen Roberts and Nancy or Bullshimer. So, Matt, both Nancy and

Karen or Trump appointees from the first Trump administration and have decades of experience

working in Republican administrations and now they're back at the Peace Corps for Trump 2.0.

“So, it sounds like, like, what someone called Deep State people?”

Borrowed. They burrowed in. They burrowed. All right. Continue. And the email says, Nancy and Karen, redacted reached out to let me know that U2 should be added to the list of people that get notified in the event of Doge team comes to visit Peace Corps headquarters. I have the below contact information for you both. If a team does visit us, we will gather in the Harris Waffer conference room on the second floor.

I think this email is really interesting because of what it says here. If a team does visit us, like, are they unsure if Doge is going to visit Peace Corps and has this planning that's taken place over the past month? Been in preparation for a potential visit? If, in fact, this is just kind of preemptive on the part of Peace Corps, Matt, that they have now spent a month to kind of prepare for Doge's arrival. I mean, holy cow,

look at how much time they're investing. They seem to be taking a very different approach from Institute for Peace, who's like, get out of here. You're trespassing. Exactly. We don't want to be like U.S. Institute of Fake Peace. That gets into a confrontation with Doge. They're Peace Poses, you know? Yeah. They are the hair metal of Peace. We are the true hardcore members of Peace. We're the Slair of Peace. We're the Slair of Peace. We're the Slair of Peace.

table third. And here's where things start to ramp up. Subject line, detail to the Peace Corps. And it says, team, I receive two phone calls within five minutes. I wanted to bring it to your

attention. Here's what I know. Phone call number one, names redacted. He is serving as a senior advisor

at the U.S. Office of Personnel and Management and introduced himself as a White House liaison. He advised me that redacted, so its person's name and an email address will be detailed to the Peace Corps. Phone call number two, and then it says, name redacted, call to get more details on her onboarding. She expects to be onboarded tomorrow with a laptop badge and cell phone. She stated she works for GSA and was originally going to be detailed to U.S. aid. She stated she has directives

on be working with the Peace Corps in a leadership position short-term. But what's notable here is the mention of Office of Personnel Management and the GSA. So the reason I mentioned that is Office of Personnel Management is like the government's human resources department. And so many of the dosage folks, when they were brought into government, that became part of Office of Personnel Management before they were sent out to various agencies. And then GSA was kind of like one of

“these first agencies where many of them went over to. So I think that's a pretty notable email”

because it kind of gives us a sense of what's going on behind the scenes in the build-up toward Joe's arriving at the Peace Corps. Importantly, it's dated April 3rd 2025, right? So this is what is it a day or two before I filed my request? And then that evening, Karen sends an email. You ready, Matt? I'm ready. I'm excited. Tell me. Joe's is arriving tomorrow. It says, "Joe's will arrive at Peace Corps tomorrow, most likely early afternoon will need access

to our systems and financials. She is being lent to Peace Corps so she will not be paid by Peace Corps. Interesting. We do not know how long she will be with us. She'll be working over the weekend.

She will let Nancy or I know her arrival time and we will greet her on the first floor and take her

to see another person whose name is redacted on the second floor to get her badge so she can get underway. She will need a computer with access and most likely will need an office or conference room to work out of. We gave Alice in a heads-up. That's Alice in green, the CEO, and she indicated we would huddle tomorrow morning to discuss the details and review the plan. Best Karen and Nancy. They're getting ready to review the plan. Does this start to have like an office space

kind of feel to you? It does. It definitely feels that way. Particularly like she will need a conference room. It's funny because when I was reporting on CFPB, that's essentially where the Josh folks hold up in a conference room. They papered over the windows in the conference room and made sure nobody could peek in. The rest of the emails in this chain, the chief information officer says I'm kicking off the support process now and be ready to go looking forward to meeting

with her and then another email, thanks Karen as you know the office next to me is available,

“exclamation point. Probably the only exclamation point that I think we've seen thus far.”

Why would there be an exclamation point? Put her here. So now we're going to Friday, April 4th. I'm picturing like if this is a TV show, it's like the screen flashes like now it's that date and then the next day begins. Yeah. This is the moment we've been training for. We've been training for this moment. Can they feel it coming in the air tonight? Her today? Oh, give it. We need the drum roll. Matt, you've got to go.

You're going to. If you. Yeah, exactly. Can we call it like piece core versus like death core? Oh, yeah. Doge. The death core. I'm eagerly awaiting how this goes. Hello, I'm Michelle Hussein and for more than 20 years, I was at the BBC. Military withdrawal from Afghanistan. But all the time I was delivering the headlines, I wanted to go further than the news of the day to spend more time with the people shaping our

“world. And that's what I'm doing here on this podcast. Speaking to people from Nigel Farage.”

This is a love you trying. It needs to be taught. Just a love you trying. I was a hard. The tech journalist, Kara Swisher and the tech industry is running wild. You know, they've gotten what they wanted and they've seen a huge run-up in their staff prices.

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to help make sense of the world. So please join me, listen and subscribe to the Michelle Hussein Show from Bloomberg Weekend. Wherever you get your podcast. This doesn't ask interesting questions. Friday, April 4th. The day Joe's schedule to arrive and around noon, the chief information officer

system point of contact access for those team members when if they arrive. Good morning and happy

Friday. Team Peace Corps. See that, Matt? Like they're they're embracing that. Team Peace Corps or Team Peace. Yeah. We will be welcoming the Josh folks this afternoon. We have been made aware that they intend to work on the weekends. You know, I have to do the love of boy reference. Everybody is working on the weekend. Yeah. Well, but that's you've you've completely inverted but that song is about. The line is everybody's working for the weekend, isn't it? Like you're

getting your work done on Friday so you can party on weekend. Really? Is that is that it? I think so. Oh, you're right, Matt. Everybody's working for the weekend. Yeah. So we have been made aware that they intend to work on the weekend. So we will need you on standby. It goes on to say as

“discussed, you should be prepared to do the following to be as helpful as possible. There's a”

bulleted list of six very specific instructions, but this one stood out to me under all circumstances ensure that clear records are kept on what is requested. What does that mean to you? Ensure that clear records are kept on what is requested and provided to your AD assistant director. And it says copying a couple of people. Yeah. I mean, they're I think there's a lot of sensitivities around and there have been a lot of disputes about what is doge entitled to or not. Right. And this seems to be

saying if they ask for something, let's document exactly what they're asking for and let's make sure it goes up the chain so that they can get reviewed and approved. And if there's a dispute in the future about what they're asking for, they want to make sure that's documented or if there's a dispute about what they did access that there's a record of that. Oh, it sounds like to me. So again,

“they're probably reading the reporting around doge at other agencies, gaining access to systems,”

the controversies connected to that and are kind of suggesting some proactive steps in the event that there's request access data systems. And that afternoon, the doge employee arrives a piececore to

sus out, waste fraud and abuse. All right. They're finally here. Here we go. So the emails don't say

how the arrival actually went. But I'm imagining Nancy and Karen greet her on the first floor. They escort her to the second floor to get her badge. And then she settles into a conference room with her pre-configured laptop with the identified software installed just like they planned. And that evening, we're still on April 4th, Matt. The chief information office sends a message to the whole team. And this is sort of a debrief team. As you are probably aware,

a doge employee visited Peace Corps today. She and a few of her colleagues will be working here

“with us over the coming weeks. They will be sitting in conference room 72 18 for the duration of”

their stay. During their stay with us, please observe the following. I'm cracking up at some of this regenerated reaction Matt. Do not, not, is in all caps. Do not walk by the conference room to peek in. The location was selected for their privacy. Okay? Be mindful of your hallway conversations. Do not, not again, all caps discuss their presence outside the agency. Do not share their names with anyone. Be courteous and respectful of their time. These folks are professionals

with a big job to do in a narrow window in which to do it. We want them to be able to do their job safely and effectively. You're decorum and professionalism is expected. I mean, do not walk by the conference room to peek in. What I'd really like to hear is that red by the actor who played Tom Wamskin in succession. Guys, you back off, you back off. This is exactly the level business. Okay? You know, I mean, it's so funny because every time some kind of directive

is handed down, you know, then the directive ends up being published by a media outlet. But, you know, yeah, and this is a big deal. Like, I mean, imposing secrecy and government officials.

Like, there is some first amendment law around this. And, you know, there is a lot of the government

can do. But, like, these things are restricting government officials ability to tell the public about what's going on in the government. Like, isn't really very democratic in my mind. I mean, there may be some legitimate reasons, but not to, like, save embarrassment or to minimize scrutiny. Well, what would be the legitimate reason to not disclose that there is a person from the Department of Government efficiency there? Why keep that from the public? We already know that

Department of Government efficiency exists. We already know from Trump's executive orders that they are being tasked with going into various agencies to basically check their books.

forever engage in. But, this is exactly what they'd be criticizing prior administrations

for doing. Like, information blackouts, controlling the narrative, spin. People are tired of this stuff. It's frustrating to people who want to understand what the government's up to. And then, like, they're trying to keep this kind of stuff secret. Exactly. And to be clear, on that weighing in at all on the partisan politics around this, for me, this is just about straight up transparency, just finding out what's going on in real time. And I think our record in

messing with the Obama administration and messing with the Biden administration just as much. I think it speaks for itself. Like, this isn't about partisanship. This isn't about politics. This is about you're the government and you work for us. And I don't care what party

you're a member. I don't care what policy you're trying to further. If you're not willing to do it

in the open, then you don't deserve to be in government. Everyone's just imagine what would the

“world look like if the only thing that ever got reported in the press is what the government puts”

in press releases and in talking points. Nobody wants to live in that world except, you know, maybe government officials. So, these kinds of things, they really, if they're followed, they have the ability to just shut down news coverage and make Jason's job more difficult. By the way, the emails I receive don't name the Doge employee. But by evening on April 4th, there was already a story naming a Doge employee in the Guardian thanks to two people at Peace Corps

who anonymously spoke to her reporter there. They said her name was Bridget Young's. So much for do not discuss their presence outside of the agency. Right. We don't know much about her, but it's since been reported that she's 29 years old, according to ProPublica's extensive database of Doge members, Elon Musk's demolition crew, as ProPublica called them. It's kind of reminds me of the motorhead song We Are The Road Crew.

“Yeah, what else? She previously worked as a senior manager at ramp charging,”

accompanying that built electric vehicle charging stations. And that's according to an archive of her deleted LinkedIn profile. That's another thing, by the way. Many of these folks who came to work for Doge, just erased their digital footprint, deleted their social media accounts, and did so in a way where like you can't even find much of an archive. But before that, she worked at new energy capital, a clean energy investment firm. So no government experience

that we know of. And now she's coming into the Peace Corps to, you know, do her thing. She was only there a few hours, but would be back. And there could be more people from Doge next time. She should be back. She'll be back. The following Monday, an email went around to some employees with a reminder. Hi, quick update. The Doge team came in to do an assessment, which is ongoing. They have done the same at several other agencies that don't make the press.

The only reminder is if we do receive media requests to work with the communications team and not respond independently. Thanks.

“I'm sorry. You're talking about it, but a STFU order?”

Yeah, don't have you ever received one of those? I mean, that's like standard government fair that I've seen, like both parties, all units of government, like if there's a press inquiry, then make sure that it's the people at the top who can control what's being said. So, you know, that's a-- Which is usually nothing. Right. Which is usually nothing. Right. So what came of this? In late April, the Guardian reported Peace Corps to undergo

significant cuts after Doge review. It reported that the CEO, Allison Green, sent an email to staff

offering them a second fork in the road by out. The first one being offered by Musk to all government

employees earlier this year. Employees had seven business days to decide. That in August of this year, the Peace Corps announced a shuffle in senior leadership. CEO, Allison Green, among others, stepped down to quote, "pave the way for a new leadership team and guide the organizational transformations that will make Peace Corps stronger and more efficient in the long run." Karen Roberts stepped up as the acting chief of staff until the administration selected someone else,

which they did in September. So we know about some buyouts and a staff shuffle, but we're still waiting to learn exactly how many cuts were made. So far, this doesn't look like it's as severe as the U.S. Institute for Peace or USAID. I tried to reach Bridget Young's and didn't get a response, but right before we published, the Peace Corps sent us this comment about Doge's visit, which they said took place in April and May. "Peace Corps and Doge staff worked together

respectfully and professionally to complete the audits in a timely manner." They added this about the cuts. Following the review, the agency determined that certain positions could be reduced to carry out the mission more efficiently without any impact on volunteer safety and security, health, medical

In addition, the agency reduced overseas local higher contractors. The Peace Corps continues

to support its currently serving volunteers' health, safety and security, and effective service, and continues to recruit place and train new volunteers. So Jason, you said you wanted an opportunity to visualize what a visit from Doge entailed and hope to capture that through documents. Did the documents answer your questions? Oh, totally. These documents really gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the planning. In some cases, the fear, the anxiety that was circulating

right before Doge's visit. And I do think that it gives us a visualization of what was happening inside Peace Corps right before Doge was coming in. What's fascinating to me in obtaining these records is the level of detail. The fact that they were planning for two months, leading up to the arrival at Peace Corps, the drills that were taking place. I want the public to feel like there are

“fly on the wall and are right there when all of this is taking place. So I think the documents”

are fascinating. I want more. I want more of these documents. And as I mentioned, Matt, this is just

the kind of first-in-term release that we received after I negotiated with the agency.

And I think it shows the impact that Doge and the way it went about doing what it's doing had on the operations of government. I think to some extent, it also shows how much the federal bureaucracy doesn't want to change that it's resistant to anyone coming in and reviewing their operations and potentially finding that they're doing things that aren't consistent with policy directives of this administration or that are inefficient or whatever it may be. And so like,

I don't want to leave the impression, at least for myself, that this is like Doge's bad and the

“agency's are good. I think the idea of what Doge was supposed to be doing is not a bad one,”

and I think that agencies to the extent they weren't cooperating were probably in many instances being motivated by their own self-preservation, which isn't necessarily consistent with a broader public interest. True. And as I mentioned earlier, Matt, you know, this is the job that inspectors general would perform for the most part, looking into waste fraud and abuse. For example, labor mischarging, that is what the watchdogs, the internal watchdogs historically have done, but you can't

get away from the fact that there's a political agenda here. And with agencies like USAID, that were identified by Project 2025, the reason was not so much about waste fraud and abuse, but the political and ideological associations with the programs that, for example, USAID was funding. Project 2025 was essentially trying to make the case that the US was funding abortion. So, you know, Jason, I feel like I haven't heard a ton lately about what's going on at Doge, like what is going on these days.

Well, Doge has largely faded from public view. Many of the Doge employees like Bridget Young's, they either became permanent government employees. They're now attached to a specific agency or they left. I mean, Elon Musk has gone. So, the whole sort of idea of Doge taking an act to

“these agencies, I mean, they, for six months of the year, that's what they did, but then it just”

completely faded. But they still exist. US Doge service is still an entity. And as it relates to the FOIA, they're still a fight, you know, to get those records. But for the most part, those who were attached to Doge are now, you know, part of the government bureaucracy within other agencies.

But yeah, Doge is not headline news. The way it was for the first six months of the year.

Well, you know Jason, you know what they say about peace, right? Um, peace cells, but who's buying peace and who? But who's buying? Oh, that's perfect. You put a price on peace. I think Megadeth is about to do like a final tour, right? They are. Final tour with Iron Maiden. We're going, we're getting backstage, and we're going to interview Dave and the state of my knowledge. What do you think? I'm broke. What a classic line. Better work this time. From Bloomberg

and no smiling, this is disclosure. The show is hosted by Matt Topic and Me, Jason Leopold. It's produced by Heather Shroering and Sean Cannon for no smiling. Our editor for Bloomberg is Jeff Grokot. Our executive producers for Bloomberg are Sage Bowman and Me, Jason Leopold. And our executive

is by Nick with additional music by Nick and Epidemic Sound. Sound design and mixing is by Sean Cannon.

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