On November 14th, according to Fortune, US President-elect Donald Trump announced the appointment of billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly created Department of Government Effectiveness (D.O.G.E). The department's name alludes to Dogecoin and will work with the White House Office of Management and Budget to promote structural reforms of government. Ann Skeet, director of leadership ethics at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center, points out that Musk's business interests are in direct conflict with government interests. Musk's businesses have close ties to the government: SpaceX holds a $4 billion NASA moon landing contract; Tesla not only benefits from government tax incentives, but also is subject to automotive safety regulations; social platform X is facing investigations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); other businesses such as artificial intelligence company xAI, brain-computer interface company Neuralink, and tunneling company Boring have intersected with federal regulation. Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer during the Bush administration, said that if DOGE operated as a government entity, Musk would need to divest from his business interests or recuse himself from related matters, unless Trump granted a rare exemption. Auto safety advocates fear that efficiency reforms led by Musk could weaken the role of regulators such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).