Elon Musk is adding more young talent to the so-called ‘nerd army’ at the Department of Government Efficiency – including a 24-year-old former college swimmer who became the first known woman to join the ‘First Buddy’s’ team.
The billionaire Tesla founder and his son X took over the Oval Tuesday afternoon to join President Donald Trump as he signed a DOGE-centric executive order.
Musk, who joked that the scrutiny DOGE is receiving is like a ‘daily proctology exam,’ was appointed head of the cost-cutting agency after boosting Trump on the campaign trial.
Now, he has enlisted a troupe of largely young people – three of whom are believed to still be in college – to fill high-powered engineering roles and cut costs.
Further names have been revealed from investigative reporting, with some slightly older hires and even some women.
Joining the post-grad sector of DOGE is Kendall Lindemann, an ex-Olympic Trials swimmer and diver at the University of Tennessee – where she attended business school.
Lindemann initially worked at consulting firm McKinsey before joining DOGE.
She then moved on to health investment firm Russell Street Ventures, which is run by Brad Smith, who himself is now a senior DOGE official.
Lindemann has also kept public records on social media, with posts about her marriage and Christian faith.
Elon Musk is adding more young talent to the so-called ‘nerd army’ at the Department of Government Efficiency – including a 24-year-old former college swimmer Kendall Lindemann who became the first known woman to join the ‘First Buddy’s’ team
More and more young, hungry talent are joining Elon Musk ‘s ‘nerd army’ at the Department of Government Efficiency in attempt to cut the fat on behalf of Donald Trump
Austin Raynor, a 36-year-old lawyer who once clerked for Clarence Thomas and has argued in front of the Supreme Court, brings up the agency’s median age a tick.
The legal expert has made several media appearances in support of the president and is a member of the right-wing Federalist Society and has worked at the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation.
Venture capitalist and Republican donor Adam Ramada, 35, holds a stake in a supplier connected to Musk’s SpaceX and is now a DOGE employee, according to The Daily Beast.
Kyle Schutt, 37, worked in AI at various tech startups, including as chief technology officer at Kerplunk and as a software engineer.
One of the interesting hires is ex-John Robert clerk Keenan Kmiec, 45, the son of former President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Malta, Douglas Kmiec.
Stephanie Holmes, 43, runs DOGE’s human resources department after running her own consulting firm, BrighterSideHR, which advised their clients to find ‘non-woke’ ways of implementing diversity.
Musk’s DOGE has been rapidly growing in power and expanding its remit, most recently securing clearance to access to restricted parts of the General Services Administration buildings and IT systems.
These systems store sensitive data including social security numbers, addresses and contact information.
Joining the post-grad sector of DOGE is Kendall Lindemann, a 24-year-old and the first female known to join the ‘First Buddy’s’ team
Stephanie Holmes, 43, runs DOGE’s human resources department after running her own consulting firm, BrighterSideHR, which advised their clients to find ‘non-woke’ ways of implementing diversity
Austin Raynor (pictured right), a 36-year-old lawyer who once clerked for Clarence Thomas and has argued in front of the Supreme Court, brings up the agency’s median age a tick
The executive order signed on Tuesday was intended to ‘significantly’ scale back the federal workforce, pushing agencies to hire ‘no more than one employee for every four employees’ that depart, according to Semafor.
Musk held court with his toddler son for more than 30 minutes, with the president asking Musk to reveal some of his findings.
Musk is leading an extraordinary civilian review of the federal government with Trump’s agreement.
‘It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm it in,’ Musk said in a live session on X Spaces early Monday.
‘What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.’
Musk recently hinted he was also the mastermind behind Trump’s decision to purge federal employees by posting a symbolic picture on X harkening back to his infamous Twitter cleanse.
At the time, he sent a letter to staff titled: ‘A Fork in the Road.’ The same title was used in Trump’s recent email proposing generous lay-off packages
Musk later shared on X that he commissioned an artwork of an enormous fork standing in the road, indicating it was all connected.
He does not hold elected office, but was formally appointed a ‘special government employee’ by The White House.
Earlier Tuesday, it was revealed DOGE is shifting attention to the Department of Education sparking a mini revolution among agency bureaucrats as the nerd army stormed into the building on Tuesday and saved over $900 million.
Musk is leading an extraordinary civilian review of the federal government with Trump’s agreement
Musk’s lieutenants Akash Bobba and Ethan Shaotran, both 22 years old, already have access to the department, NBC News reported.
And there are reportedly as many as 16 team members are on the directory and have entered the premises as the agency begins to be ripped apart.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, (D-MD) described the terror agency staff are feeling after Musk’s team entered to ‘actively dismantle’ the department.
‘They are in the building, on the 6th floor, canceling grants and contracts,’ she said in an interview with HuffPost.
‘It’s not legal. They know it’s not legal. But they’re doing it anyway,’ Stansbury went on. ‘The only recourse we have right now is to to go the courts.’
She added that she expects the agency to be ‘dissolved in the coming days.’
The Education Department was targeted by Donald Trump during his campaign, who is keen to dismantle the so-called ‘Deep State’.
Most Republicans believe it employs some of the most activist liberal bureaucrats in the federal government.
Trump plans to sign another executive order on Tuesday to order all agencies to work with DOGE, according to Semafor, including with the ‘workplace optimization initiative.’