Executives of some of the largest players in the IT and software space say they aren’t losing sleep over the potential impact the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will have on their business as the temporary federal agency continues to embark on its purported cost-cutting operations.
It’s been almost one month since President Trump signed an executive order that rebranded the US Digital Service as the unit, which has been tasked with “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
All for DOGE. The freshly minted agency quickly became a topic of discussion among executives across the IT and infosecurity industry, with some seeing ample opportunity for their companies. Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp, for example, told analysts during the company’s Q4 earnings call that he welcomes the “disruption” that DOGE will bring.
“There’s a revolution,” Karp said. “Some people get their heads cut off. It’s like we’re expecting to see really unexpected things and to win basically. That’s what we’re going to do. See unexpected things, report expected things, and win.”
Meanwhile, L3Harris Technologies CEO Christopher Kubasik penned a letter directly to Elon Musk, whose apparent leadership role in the agency has recently been denied by the Trump administration, and Vivek Ramaswamy—who backed out of his role in late January—in hopes to aid DOGE in making “America’s national defense ecosystem great again.” Shortly after, the defense contractor CEO told shareholders on a Jan. 30 quarterly call that he was excited about the temporary division.
“As I said, there’s going to be an unprecedented change in 2025 and some will be able to adapt and take advantage of it,” Kubasik said. “We plan to be one of those companies, and maybe others won’t. But let’s see what the future brings.”
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Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins shared his own positive outlook with analysts on the company’s Feb. 12 quarterly earnings call. Robbins said its US federal business makes up less than 10% of its total business and that 75% of its US federal biz comes from the Department of Defense.
“It’s important to understand that this effort is really about driving efficiency and productivity in government, which in many cases is actually delivered via the use of technology,” Robbins said. “So, we think that there could be some positives for us.”
On the other DOGE. While some IT and cybersecurity executives may hope to benefit from associations with the new administration, other security professionals have raised concerns over the agency due to the unprecedented access the unit—consisting largely of young employees with past working relationships with Musk at his various businesses—has to sensitive federal data. SailPoint CISO Rex Booth previously told IT Brew that the perceived threats associated with the division are valid and can potentially lead to a national security risk.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that adversarial nation states are looking for ways in which to take advantage of the perceived or actual instabilities in the way in which we control access to sensitive information systems,” he said.