Musk says DOGE found mine storing government retirement papers

• Elon Musk said DOGE discovered that government retirements are still processed on paper and stored in a mine. He said they found out after inquiring why there’s a maximum of 10,000 retirements per month.
• Musk said he wants to move federal employees from low-productivity jobs to higher ones.
• On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order giving DOGE more power over the federal hiring process.

Elon Musk said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) discovered that the federal government stores retirement paperwork in a Pennsylvania mine, one of many parts of the process he said that are outdated. Musk said DOGE found out about the mine when they started asking why the government has a cap of 10,000 retirements per month. 

“We’re like, ‘Well, why is that?’ Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual, on paper,” Musk said. “It’s manually calculated. They’re written down on a piece of paper. Then it goes down a mine. Doesn’t that sound crazy?” Musk asked rhetorically. 

Musk said there are approximately 1,000 people who work on government retirements. 

“So I think if we take those people and say, like, you know what, instead of working in a mine shaft and carrying manila envelopes in a mine shaft, you could do practically anything else, and you would add to the goods and services of the United States in a more useful way,” Musk said. 

Musk shared the story from the Oval Office as he discussed ways to increase federal government efficiency and abandon outdated methods. 

“How do we increase prosperity? Is we get people to shift from roles that are low to negative productivity to high productivity roles,” Musk said. “And so we increase the total output of goods and services, which means that there’s a higher standard of living available for everyone.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday, Feb. 11, giving DOGE more power over the federal hiring process. Agency heads now have to coordinate with DOGE team leads on personnel decisions. DOGE team leads also have the power to tell agencies to keep certain positions vacant, although agency heads can overrule the decision. 

Trump’s order also requires each agency to hire only one employee for every four departures.