The Trump administration’s de-Muskification of the General Services Administration is speeding up, as the agency that was essentially run by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency staffers takes a new form.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump installed Mike Rigas as acting GSA administrator, effectively layering DOGE-aligned Stephen Ehikian atop the agency.
“With Ehikian losing his role [as acting administrator of GSA], DOGE has lost all remaining influence,” said one person close to DOGE, who like others in this report was granted anonymity to describe the situation. It is unclear how much longer Ehikian, who is deputy administrator, will stay, that person and a second person said.
In recent days, the White House has detailed to GSA nine employees — who are seen as more Trump institutionalists than the unconventional tech bros Musk favored — from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, according to internal agency records and a third person familiar with the matter.
It is a clear attempt by the White House to water down the influence of DOGE staffers from Musk’s orbit, including Ehikian, Josh Gruenbaum and Thomas Shedd at agencies like GSA, where their control was significant.
“All parties involved after the President’s appointment of Mike Rigas as Acting Administrator are working collaboratively to ensure GSA continues delivering the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people,” GSA spokesperson Marianne Copenhaver said, acknowledging that Rigas’ appointment marked a shift for the agency.
Last month, former DOGE operation lead Steve Davis attempted to retain influence over employees at GSA by leading a DOGE meeting on the sixth floor of the building — despite no longer being an employee there.
Gruenbaum remains highly involved at GSA, the second person familiar with the internal dynamics of the agency told West Wing Playbook. He comes to the GSA office regularly and just closed a deal with more expected to come, the person said. (GSA and Docusign today announced a deal on price reductions for government tools.)
But most of the people who were recently detailed over from OMB and OPM to GSA have worked with Rigas before and have ties to Trump’s first administration — not to Musk’s world.
“The direction of the DOGE team makes a lot of sense. But what the DOGE team lacks is that staying power,” a GSA official told West Wing Playbook. “We want to make sure that these aren’t just short-term, mid-term goals, that these goals have a lifespan beyond what a DOGE life cycle may end up being.”
Stephen Billy, a senior advisor at OMB, also served under Russ Vought in OMB during the tail end of Trump’s first term. Billy is also listed as a contributor to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint to the president’s second-term agenda.
The former director of intergovernmental affairs for three years in Trump’s first term, Doug Hoelscher, was also detailed from OPM to GSA.
Hoelscher was the chair of the American leadership initiative at the America First Policy Institute, the think tank influential to Trump’s policies and whose president was Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Another alum of Trump’s first term who is moving from OPM to GSA is David LaCerte, who was a senior adviser at OPM from 2020 to 2021. LaCerte is also listed as a contributor on Project 2025.
LaCerte, who was nominated by Trump to fill a vacant seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, helped Rigas land and get situated and doesn’t plan to be at the agency long-term, according to a person familiar with his situation.
Kevin Hennecken, a former investment analyst at BlackRock and staffer at OPM, has also joined GSA.
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