Elon Musk stated last month that the federal government was involved in “completely insane” activity, and claimed without proof that it had divided $ 100 billion to people without Sofi numbers.
Two days after Mr. Musk, started one of his most important lieutenants, Steve Davis, on the Social Security Administration for information. Mr Davis called the leaders of the agency to insist that they give a young engineer of Mr. Musk's so -called department of the efficiency of the government to databases that contain sensitive information about Americans.
Mr. Davis's requirement was “unprecedented,” said Tiffany Flick, a former social security officer, this month in a sworn explanation for a lawsuit that was filed by federal employees trying to block access to the data. She added that she could feel Mr Davis impatient in the hours before the DOGE engineer was ultimately allowed to investigate “the general myth of supposed widespread social security fraud.”
The deployment of staff in federal agencies is only one task that Mr Davis recently performed for Mr. Musk, because the richest man in the world remains a total attempt to reform the American government. For each turn, Mr Davis supported his boss, laid the foundation for cost savings during the presidential transition, beat diversity initiatives, meet legislators and help in sending a “fork in the way” -mail that encouraged employees to step down.
Those actions show how Mr Davis, 45, effectively became the daily leader of Doge. He has more power than Amy Gleason, the acting Doge administrator of the Trump administration, two people near the effort, said Mrs. Gleason was sometimes in the dark about Mr Davis's decisions.
How Mr. Davis came in this position is hardly a secret. For more than 20 years, the engineer has devoted himself to fulfilling the desires of Mr. Musk, after the billionaire to his various companies, including the Rocket Maker SpaceX and the social media platform X. Mr. Davis heartily believes that Mr. Musk will bring about the progress of humanity, according to interviews with 22 friends, formerly fellow friends, formerers, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly friends, formerly people, formerly people, formerly people, formerly friends, formerly people, formerly people, formerly friends, formerly people, formerly friends, former friends, former friends, formerly friends, officers, former friends, officials, former friends, official friends, officials, officers, formerly friends, officers, and government.
For Mr. Musk, Mr. Davis represents the ideal employee – an engineer who will throw himself at every task, even if he has no expertise in the area, two former colleagues said. Mr. Musk mainly has the ability of Mr. Davis to accelerate waste, once comparing his lieutenant with a cancer treatment.
“Steve is as a chemo,” said Mr. Musk during a transition meeting before President Trump took office. “A little chemo can save your life; you could kill a lot of chemo.”
Mr. Musk and Mr. Davis have deeply connected to cost savings. At SpaceX, Mr. Davis ways to build rockets cheaper. He also supervised dismissal on Twitter, which was renamed X. At Doge, he coordinates engineers and lawyers to find $ 2 trillion that Mr. Musk has promised to eliminate from the federal budget.
Mr Davis is so loyal to Mr. Musk that he and his partner, Nicole Hollander, 42, who became a member of the General Services Administration to lower the federal real estate costs, set up a basis of activities on the sixth floor of the Washington office. It is monitored by a complete security detail, three employees of the agency said.
Adam Green, a progressive organizer who became friends about ten years ago with Mr. Davis when they lived in Washington, said Mr. Davis was once a “nice outdoor-the-box-thinker” who had become a “blind servant” for Mr. Musk.
Mr. Davis, Mr. Musk, Mrs. Hollander and the White House did not respond to requests for comments.
Mr. Davis started working for Mr. Musk in 2003, when the tech entrepreneur picked him from a Stanford Aeronautics Graduate Program. Mr. Davis became the 14th employee at SpaceX. He quickly made himself loved by Mr. Musk by finding less expensive ways to develop rocket parts, including making a shuttle steering device for a hundredth of the price.
His economy led to errors. In 2007, Mr. Davis removed components from the Falcon 1 -rocket from SpaceX who prevent fuel from banging in the vehicle, said three former colleagues. That ensured that the fuel during a test flight unquested the rocket, and it closed the Midair before he reached a job.
By 2008, Mr Davis moved to Washington and was later named director of SpaceX of Advanced Projects. He had a wide range of responsibilities at the company, including finding land around Boca Chica, Texas, for what Starbase would become, SpaceX's Rocket Launch Facility.
On the side, Mr. Davis strived for a doctorate for the economy and opened Mr Yogato, a frozen yogurt shop who offered discounts to customers who answered Trivia questions. He also helped create a Jewish lifestyle website, collecting the Jews and joined the board of the Atlas Society, a non -profit organization dedicated to the teachings of the Libertarian author Ayn Rand.
In 2018, Mr. Musk appointed Mr. Davis to lead the boring company, a start-up that aims to build tunnels among large metropolitan areas to illuminate congestion.
“In general there is almost zero R&D in tunnels in America,” Mr Davis said during a presentation for the company that year. “So trying new things is actually useful for us.”
The boring company opened a tunnel in Las Vegas in 2021, but has encountered legal roadblocks elsewhere. Mr. Musk, who dismissed Mr Davis and threatened to dismiss him, said three people who worked with Mr Davis. The stress weighed on Mr. Davis and he sometimes brought out his hair, five people said close to him.
After Mr. Musk Twitter had bought in 2022, helped Mr Davis to beat the costs of the company and told people that he hoped to eliminate more than $ 500 million. He was so dedicated that on some nights he was staying with Mrs. Hollander and their newborn baby at Twitter's office in San Francisco.
Mr Davis also supervised the installation of a personal bathroom for Mr. Musk there, and told an employee not to make an effort to obtain a building permit.
“We don't have to follow the rules,” said Mr Davis, according to a lawsuit from 2023 of former Twitter employees who accused the company and Mr Musk of breaking the conditions of their employment contracts.
Some employees complained about Mr Davis's cost savings against Linda Yaccarino, who became X's Chief Executive in 2023 and asked her to arouse him, said two people with knowledge of the discussions. He left X shortly thereafter.
When Mr. Musk smelled for Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania during last year's presidential campaign, Mr. Davis moved to hotels in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to supervise a super Pac that Mr. Musk had supported, three people said. Mr Davis helped to come up with a petition of $ 47-per-head that Mr. Musk promoted to prove to be Trump voters, and quoted his Twitter cost savings as a way to do things cheaply at the Super Pac.
After Mr Trump won the elections, Mr Davis joined a “landing team” and interviewed candidates for the efficiency commission of Mr. Musk. He also met agencies that employed engineers to assess the technical talent that DOGE could tap into, said three government officials. Mr. Musk recorded Mr. Davis in recruiting pitches for potential government recovery, according to an internal e -mail seen by the New York Times.
After Mr. Trump's inauguration, Mr. Davis pushed the administration officials to let him e -mail all government employees at the same time, two people said knowledge of his efforts. That led to an e -mail explosion in January, known as the “fork in the way”, including a government offer.
When leaks leaked about the dismissal offering in the media, Mr. Davis punished officials for the non -control of their staff and accused them of embarrassing Mr. Musk, said two people.
Mr. Davis presents daily for Mr. Musk's priorities with Mr Trump's advisers, said two people with knowledge of the conversations. He has warned board officials of diversity, stock and inclusion programs that are aimed at cuts and individuals that are removed from government councils.
Mr. Davis, who can be bone and und diplatic, especially in texts in the late night, is also bumping into a few staff from Mr. Trump. He and his colleagues strained some advisers at the White House with the way Dog tried to place some of their recruits in the Pentagon, said three people.
Everywhere Mr. Davis deserves attention. Mr. Musk and the White House did not mention him. In Washington Mr Davis usually avoided his photo until this month, when he spoke in the Doge Caucus, a group of the House of Representatives who cooperates with the cost -saving Task Force.
“A great encounter with @elonmusk and Steve Davis Packaged on their goals for the @Doge,” representative Aaron Bean, Republican of Florida, posted on X. The message contained a photo of Mr Davis with a microphone and smiled next to Mr Musk.
Reporting was contributed by Kirsten Grind” Eric Schmitt” Jonathan Swan And Maggie Haberman. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
