Speaking at the 2025 World Governments Summit in Dubai, Musk was asked about how his cost-slashing actions via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will be maintained under future administrations.

“I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave part of them behind,” the billionaire Tesla boss said. “If you leave part of them behind … It’s kind of like leaving a weed. If you don’t remove the roots of the weed, then easy for the weed to grow back.

“But if you remove the roots of the weed, it doesn’t stop weeds from ever growing back, but it makes it harder. We have to really delete entire agencies—many of them.”

The richest man on the planet said in the next election cycle some of the agencies and headcount he is planning to cull could be brought back, “but it’ll be from a much lower baseline.”

“The overarching goal here is to lay the foundation for prosperity that will last many decades, maybe centuries. But will it be forever? Nothing’s forever,” he added.

White House visit

Musk’s appearance in Dubai came shortly after he held a press conference alongside President Trump in the White House’s Oval Office.

Appearing with his 4-year-old son X in tow, Musk was questioned about conflicts of interest between his role as the head of DOGE and his stake in private companies such as EV maker Tesla and SpaceX.

He was also asked about the errors DOGE is likely to make while sweeping through behemoth government departments, illustrated by a claim that $50 million worth of condoms were being sent to war-torn Gaza when in reality, they were being sent to the Gaza region of Mozambique to help prevent the spread of HIV.

The man worth $384 billion said he can be expected to make mistakes and would work quickly to rectify them.

That being said, he still had some advice for foreign governments looking to Trump’s administration for inspiration.

Wearing a “Tech Support” T-shirt—harking back to Musk’s X profile page in which he called himself the “White House’s tech support”—the South African–born entrepreneur added: “A shocking percentage of the problem—or maybe not shocking to those who know it—a big percentage of the problem is improving the technology that the government runs on.

“The U.S. government runs on a collection of thousands of computers, many of them antiquated, running on very old software, and the computers don’t talk to each other. Tech support is kind of a real thing, in order to make the government more efficient you have to improve the technology.”

A fast-paced week

Federal employees can’t be blamed if they haven’t managed to keep up with the fast-paced changes being rolled out by both DOGE and the president directly.

From President Trump blasting WFH policies and signing executive orders on hiring freezes to DOGE slashing spend after spend—staffers have also had to contend with confusion over role terminations.

Probationary staff at the Small Business Administration were reportedly sent emails on Friday telling them their roles had been cut.

By Monday that email was retracted, and the staff were told it had been sent by mistake.

Come Tuesday, the employees in question received a third email telling them they had been fired after all.

With more than 75,000 people now signed up for a buyout enticing them to leave their federal roles, President Trump has also ensured any necessary hires to fill gaps are restricted.

In an executive order signed Tuesday, the White House said each department can hire “no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.”

On top of that, every agency head of department has been told to develop a data-driven hiring plan in consultation with DOGE “to ensure new career appointment hires are in highest-need areas.”