President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are taking a distinctly tech-sector mindset to reshaping the federal government: Cut first, then see what breaks.
Embracing Innovation: The Silicon Valley Perspective
It’s an approach deeply rooted in Silicon Valley’s “fail fast” ethos that encourages rapid iteration without being certain whether the experiment will work. Musk, the world’s wealthiest person who has become a top adviser to Trump, has long championed the philosophy. “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you’re not innovating enough,” he told Fast Company in 2005.
Clash of Cultures: Washington's Reality Check
But that ethos doesn’t always play in Washington.
“It’s a lot easier to crash an unmanned rocket when you’re spending other people’s money,” said Nu Wexler, a former Capitol hill staffer who has worked at Google and Twitter. “Musk has had great success in the private sector by exercising complete control over his companies. But it’s difficult, if not impossible, to replicate that in government.”
This week offered the latest example, as some of Trump’s appointed agency leaders told government workers to ignore Musk’s demands that they justify their jobs in emails detailing their work product, in part because those who worked in national security jobs risked compromising government secrets.
Understanding the Government Landscape
The clash highlights a fundamental difference in approaches between the innovation-driven Silicon Valley and the risk-averse, service-oriented government setting. In Silicon Valley, failure is an accepted part of the journey towards innovation, with high stakes but potentially high rewards. In contrast, government operations are bound by the need for stability, reliability, and accountability to provide essential public services.
Challenges and Reservations
Even within Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, some technologists are pushing back.
This week, 21 DOGE staffers resigned, writing in a joint letter: “We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services.”
Many of them began their careers in Silicon Valley before entering government. But even they have grown skeptical that Musk’s aggressive downsizing approach will lead to meaningful efficiency.
Government Realities: The Consequences
In some agencies, Musk’s blunt-force approach isn’t just disruptive; it could have fatal consequences.
At the Federal Aviation Administration, a senior aviation safety official granted anonymity for fear of retaliation warned that their unit — which conducts some of the 8,000 congressionally mandated investigations across the country — is losing critical expertise as senior managers take buyout offers or retire early rather than ride out DOGE’s upheaval.
His team not only conducts investigations but also analyzes them to identify risks in maintenance procedures, approach protocols, airport congestion, unapproved aircraft parts and pilot fatigue. Their work helps prevent future accidents.
Government Stability and Public Services
At the Food and Drug Administration, the Trump administration is backpedaling on some of its terminations, reinstating workers in the agency’s medical devices division after realizing they were responsible for approving and monitoring the safety of life-saving equipment like pacemakers and defibrillators.
Others who were fired and reinstated include U.S. Department of Agriculture employees who were working on the federal bird flu response and National Nuclear Security Administration employees, who oversee U.S. nuclear weapons.
The White House Stance
The White House is standing firmly behind Musk.
“There is no reason why a CEO’s approach cannot work in the nation’s capital,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said. “The majority of Americans would rather have CEOs running the show than career bureaucrats.”
Future Implications
After a chaotic first wave of mass firings, the Trump administration has slowed its pace in some areas, acknowledging the risks of gutting critical agencies without a backup plan. Officials promised to scrutinize layoffs more carefully, with one White House official telling POLITICO that Trump’s team is now “double-, triple- and quadruple-checking” before firing personnel.
But experts warn that the structural damage may already be done.
“We don’t have a process if government fails,” said Cary Coglianese, the Edward B. Shils Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. “If people no longer get the cancer treatments that are going to prolong their life, if communicable diseases start spreading because nobody can track them or trust government information anymore, there’s not a backstop for it.”
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