Reports have surfaced suggesting that a woman named Amy Gleason, 53, is leading the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration. This is the first report following the White House's statement that "Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is not the DOGE administrator."
On the 25th (local time), CNN reported, "According to a White House official, Gleason is the acting manager of DOGE." The Associated Press also reported, "On the afternoon of the 25th, the White House designated Gleason as the acting DOGE administrator."
According to the White House, Gleason began her career as a nurse and realized that technology could improve healthcare services, leading her to build and implement electronic medical records and care management technology over the years. In particular, she felt that the healthcare system needed to undergo a transformation in June 2010 when her daughter was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease.
According to LinkedIn, Gleason served as the chief product officer at Russell Street Ventures, a small healthcare startup in Nashville, and Main Street Health. The founder of both companies, Brad Smith, was involved in healthcare-related tasks during Trump's first administration and participated in DOGE. According to the Associated Press, the website for Russell Street Ventures recently disappeared. In the past, this company was described as "an innovative healthcare company focused on starting and expanding services for the nation's most vulnerable and underserved patients." Main Street Health is a corporation that collaborates with rural physicians to "provide the data and opportunities necessary to succeed in value-based care."
Additionally, Gleason served as the vice president of research at the Cure JM Foundation, which researches myositis in children, from 2014 to 2018. She was also a co-founder and executive at Care Sync, a healthcare company in Florida.
Gleason has built a career in the healthcare field and transitioned to the U.S. Digital Service, an electronic government initiative established during former President Barack Obama's administration, where she worked from 2018 to 2021 as part of Trump's first administration. She also worked on the White House COVID-19 task force data team.
Since January, Gleason has served as the senior advisor for digital service. However, Musk and Trump have renamed the digital service to "United States DOGE Service." Digital service employees conducted a series of interviews with those who wore White House visitor badges the day after Trump's inauguration, resulting in 40 people being fired. The remaining 65 have been integrated into DOGE and have been involved in federal government reduction efforts, but 21 of them submitted their resignations on that day.
◇ White House spokesperson also remains tight-lipped, only revealing the DOGE 'acting administrator' on the afternoon of the 25th
Until now, the identity of the DOGE administrator has remained shrouded in mystery. Earlier, Joshua Fisher, the White House Chief of Staff, stated in court documents related to a lawsuit brought by Democrats on the 17th aimed at blocking Musk and the DOGE team from accessing the government system that "Musk is not the DOGE administrator and has no actual authority to make government decisions." Fisher added that Musk is "just a White House staff member, not a DOGE employee."
Trump established DOGE through an executive order on his first day in office. However, the executive order did not specify who the DOGE administrator is. The related executive order merely states that "there must be an administrator in the presidential administration, who must report to the White House." This contrasts with Trump's pre-inauguration remarks that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who has since resigned, would lead DOGE.
The White House has until recently refused to disclose the identity of the DOGE administrator. Caroline Livit, the White House spokesperson, stated during a regular briefing on the 25th in response to a question about who manages DOGE, "Trump instructed Musk to oversee the DOGE efforts," adding, "There are career public servants and political appointees who help operate DOGE daily."
Department of Justice attorneys also did not provide a clear answer when judges questioned at a hearing on the 24th regarding DOGE's access to the Treasury Department's data system, asking, "Who is in charge, and who gives instructions to them (DOGE employees)?"
CNN reported, "The White House official did not specify how long Gleason has been serving as the acting DOGE administrator," noting that "there could be constitutional issues regarding who is behind the decisions of DOGE that have overturned the operations of the federal government."