my Gleason is the acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a White House official told Newsweek on Tuesday.
It’s not clear when Gleason was named the acting head of DOGE and what the scope of her authority is over Elon Musk, who President Donald Trump initially said was the head of the task force.
Why It Matters
Trump announced the creation of DOGE after winning the 2024 U.S. election and said that Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, would be its leader.
But the White House put some distance between Musk and DOGE after the task force was hit with multiple lawsuits alleging that Musk, as an unelected bureaucrat, ran afoul of federal law by unilaterally shutting down congressionally created agencies and trying to fire tens of thousands of federal workers.
Amid those lawsuits, the White House said in a recent court filing that Musk was not the head of DOGE, despite what Trump and other administration officials said in the weeks prior.
“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” read the filing.
The filing said that Musk was not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service, or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization and added: “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
Who Is Amy Gleason?
According to her LinkedIn profile, Gleason has been a senior adviser at the U.S. Digital Service since January. The USDS was created under the Obama administration to help modernize the government’s technology infrastructure.
After Trump took office last month, the USDS was renamed to the U.S. DOGE Service.
Gleason worked as a digital services expert at the USDS from October 2018 to December 2021, meaning she has worked under both the Biden administration and the first Trump administration.
Gleason also has a biography on the Obama White House’s website, which was archived after Barack Obama left office.
my Gleason is the acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a White House official told Newsweek on Tuesday.
It’s not clear when Gleason was named the acting head of DOGE and what the scope of her authority is over Elon Musk, who President Donald Trump initially said was the head of the task force.
Why It Matters
Trump announced the creation of DOGE after winning the 2024 U.S. election and said that Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, would be its leader.
But the White House put some distance between Musk and DOGE after the task force was hit with multiple lawsuits alleging that Musk, as an unelected bureaucrat, ran afoul of federal law by unilaterally shutting down congressionally created agencies and trying to fire tens of thousands of federal workers.
Amid those lawsuits, the White House said in a recent court filing that Musk was not the head of DOGE, despite what Trump and other administration officials said in the weeks prior.
“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” read the filing.
The filing said that Musk was not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service, or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization and added: “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
Who Is Amy Gleason?
According to her LinkedIn profile, Gleason has been a senior adviser at the U.S. Digital Service since January. The USDS was created under the Obama administration to help modernize the government’s technology infrastructure.
After Trump took office last month, the USDS was renamed to the U.S. DOGE Service.
Gleason worked as a digital services expert at the USDS from October 2018 to December 2021, meaning she has worked under both the Biden administration and the first Trump administration.
Gleason also has a biography on the Obama White House’s website, which was archived after Barack Obama left office.
my Gleason is the acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a White House official told Newsweek on Tuesday.
It’s not clear when Gleason was named the acting head of DOGE and what the scope of her authority is over Elon Musk, who President Donald Trump initially said was the head of the task force.
Why It Matters
Trump announced the creation of DOGE after winning the 2024 U.S. election and said that Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, would be its leader.
But the White House put some distance between Musk and DOGE after the task force was hit with multiple lawsuits alleging that Musk, as an unelected bureaucrat, ran afoul of federal law by unilaterally shutting down congressionally created agencies and trying to fire tens of thousands of federal workers.
Amid those lawsuits, the White House said in a recent court filing that Musk was not the head of DOGE, despite what Trump and other administration officials said in the weeks prior.
“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” read the filing.
The filing said that Musk was not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service, or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization and added: “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
Who Is Amy Gleason?
According to her LinkedIn profile, Gleason has been a senior adviser at the U.S. Digital Service since January. The USDS was created under the Obama administration to help modernize the government’s technology infrastructure.
After Trump took office last month, the USDS was renamed to the U.S. DOGE Service.
Gleason worked as a digital services expert at the USDS from October 2018 to December 2021, meaning she has worked under both the Biden administration and the first Trump administration.
Gleason also has a biography on the Obama White House’s website, which was archived after Barack Obama left office.
According to the biography, Gleason started her career in nursing and then “discovered a passion for technology.”
“She recognized that technology can improve healthcare, and spent years building and implementing electronic medical record and practice management technologies,” the biography said. It went on to say that Gleason gained a deeper understanding of the challenges the U.S. healthcare system faces after her daughter was diagnosed “a rare autoimmune disorder” in June 2010.
Gleason has a long history of working in healthcare and healthcare-adjacent fields before joining the federal government.
She was the vice president for research at the Cure JM [Juvenile Myositis] Foundation for nearly five years before taking on her role at the USDS, according to Gleason’s LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, she was the co-founder, chief operating officer and chief strategy officer for CareSync.
“In her role as caregiver, she was responsible for keeping her daughter’s care organized, efficient, and effective,” her biography on the Obama White House website said. “As the Chief Operating Officer of CareSync, Amy draws on these experiences to help patients and their families better coordinate care and improve health outcomes. Additionally, Amy proudly volunteers as the Vice President of Research for the Cure JM Foundation, a nonprofit that funds research, raises awareness, and supports families of children with Juvenile Myositis.”
Confusion Spreads Over Musk’s Demands to Federal Workers
The White House’s announcement about Gleason’s role as acting administrator comes one day after lawyers for the Justice Department were unable to say in court when she was tapped for the job and if she has authority over Musk or is a conduit for him.
Meanwhile, confusion rippled throughout the federal bureaucracy when Musk over the weekend announced that all government workers would be getting an email asking them to justify their jobs by detailing what they got done in the last week.
He wrote on X that those who did not reply to the email would be terminated, though the email did not include that detail.
Concerns over how to respond to the demand ran especially deep at agencies performing sensitive and often classified work, including the U.S. intelligence community, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the FBI and others.
The heads of different government agencies also gave conflicting guidance on whether to follow Musk’s order. The Pentagon, Justice Department, FBI, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration all instructed employees to disregard the email or said ignoring it would not result in termination.
On Monday, President Donald Trump publicly backed Musk’s demand and said those who did not reply to the email would be “semi-fired or fired.” The deadline to respond was originally set for Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
But hours before the deadline, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said complying with Musk’s demand was voluntary and that workers did not have to respond.
Shortly after, Musk fumed on X, formerly Twitter, about pushback to his demand and issued a second threat. He said that subject to Trump’s discretion, federal workers would get “another chance” to respond to the email and that not replying would result in termination.
But on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt threw cold water on Musk’s comments, saying in a press briefing that federal workers should direct their responses “to agency leadership,” adding that Trump “defers to his Cabinet secretaries, who he’s obviously entrusted to pursue the guidance relative to their specific workforce.”
When a reporter asked the press secretary what the “actual deadline” is for workers to respond—if such a deadline exists—Leavitt responded that “agency heads will determine the best practices for their employees at their specific agencies.”
As far as agencies who instructed their staffers not to respond to the email, Leavitt said that “it’s in their best interest for that specific agency and the president supports that.”