Elon Musk is increasing his reach across the Department of Energy, which houses the nation’s national labs and its nuclear weapons stockpile.
Another member of Musk’s government-slashing group, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — Adam Ramada — has cropped up within DOE’s employment registry.
It was not immediately clear what Ramada’s background is or what his role is at the department. But Ramada identified himself as an employee of DOGE in court documents involving a union fights against DOGE access to sensitive government information. A person familiar with department operations also confirmed his identity as a DOGE staffer.
Separately, Ramada is listed in DOE’s registry as an employee of the General Services Administration, or GSA, an agency that manages federal property and provides contracting services.
The White House and DOE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has attempted to tamp down concerns around DOGE’s access to federal data, even as members of the group crop up. In an interview with Fox News last week, Wright said there are three DOGE representatives at the department.
That includes Luke Farritor, a 23-year-old member of DOGE and one of several engineers that’s been deployed across federal agencies. Farritor, who has also been listed as working at other agencies, was previously a student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and a native of Lincoln who won a prize for decoding the writings on scrolls from ancient Rome.
Ramada has emerged as a central voice in the Trump administration’s legal brawl with unions over accessing government data at agencies like the Labor Department.
Unions filed a lawsuitin D.C. federal court last week, seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent DOGE from accessing sensitive information at the agency. The Trump administration — with a signed affidavit from Ramada — pushed back before a federal judge blocked the union’s request Friday night.
Ramada in a Feb. 6 statement submitted to District Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, stated that he’s a member of DOGE, formerly the United States Digital Service.
Ramada noted that Trump on Jan. 20 inked an executive order redesignating the Digital Service as DOGE, and directed the members to “adhere to rigorous data protection standards and comply with all relevant laws when accessing unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.”
Ramada also stated that he and three other DOGE employees have been detailed to the Department of Labor to assist the agency with “improving its information technology and data organization systems and in obtaining accurate and complete data to inform policy decisions.”
DOGE employees, he said, are “required to be familiar with the legal rules governing access to Department of Labor data systems and are required to comply with those rules.”
“Since its creation by President Obama in 2014, the United States Digital Service has worked with agencies across the Executive Branch to, among other things, improve the federal government’s information technology and data organization systems,” Ramada wrote.
In dismissing the labor unions’ request Friday, Bates concluded that they lacked the necessary standing to win a temporary restraining order.
