The so -called Foreign Ministry Elvan Maskan (DOGE) has spent the first six weeks of the new Trump administration that reverses the federal government. The country has been transferred from the agency to the agency to the agency and has been transferred to sensitive data and payment systems, all in a crusade war to audit government and stop fraud, waste and abuse. DOGE has put some of its “findings” on their website, many of which have been shown an error.
But two federal auditors with years of experience, who have also worked in financial and technical audit for the government, say that DOGE is the farthest of what a real audit seems. Both had asked them to speak on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
One of the auditors who talks to Wired says, “Honestly, compare the actual audit with what DOGE does, there is no comparison.” “None of them are auditors.”
In a speech during the presidential election campaign, Donald Trump’s candidate said he was creating a government -run working group, which could “fulfill the full financial and functional audit of the entire federal government”. Mask initially said he wanted to cut $ 2 trillion from the federal budget, more than the total optional budget of $ 2023 1.7 trillion. Mask has since humiliated his ambitions and says his goal is to reduce $ 1 trillion in government spending. However, he has claimed that by identifying waste, fraud and abuses, much of the money can be reduced and has also claimed that the decline in the staff and resources of the David Agency is all part of the audit.
While there are certainly there are cases of government money that is being transferred to fraud – a government accountability book released in 2024 has estimated that the government loses $ 233 billion per year for fraud – even repayment of all costs to $ 1 trillion hopes to cut off the budget.
The auditors who spoke to the Wired claim that not only is the claim of musk not correct, but it seems that the DOG has completely eliminated existing processes to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse.
The first auditor says, “A audit generally accepted by government audit standards (GAGA), also known as yellow book audit, is carried out in accordance with the standards issued by the US Government Accountability Office.” Auditors can focus on the finances, compliance or performance of an agency. “This is the gold standard for how the government audit.”
Auditors generally have five stages of Gagas audit: planning, gathering evidence, evaluation, reporting and follow -up. Auditors strive to define the audit domain, identify all applicable rules and standards and provide an audit program. Next, auditors conduct interviews with employees, review financial records, and document and document data, reports and transactions. From there, auditors evaluate this information against policies or procedures to find out if there was a kind of waste, fraud, or abuse and presents a report that provides details of their findings and offers recommendations. Often, these reports are made available to the public. After audit, auditors can follow up with the agency to ensure changes.
