Will DOGE Target the Corps?

The unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is seeking ways to slash the size of the federal government. We’ll leave the day-to-day coverage of its doings to the main media. Our focus is the possibility that DOGE will try to make cuts to the Corps of Engineers. The cupboard is already bare at Corps Headquarters with many officials performing the work of two or even three full-timers as a result of cutbacks made by the Corps itself in the early 2000s. At the tie, the “extra” HQ personnel were sent to Division offices in the belief that the Corps should have more people at that level. As a result, we think it’s unlikely DOGE will recommend any personnel cuts in the Corps, which is already short-handed and suffering a brain drain due to retirements of many of its long-term employees. More likely to happen during the Trump administration is a reversal of Corps efforts to make sure that its reliance on a strict benefit-cost ratio was offset by extensive efforts to be responsive to poorer communities as well as minorities. Those efforts are likely to take a back seat over the next four years.