E59: I Worked Inside DOGE...Here's What Really Happened.

What really happened inside Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)? And did its effort to overhaul Washington actually work?This week on Forged in America, Ravin Gandhi and Al Goldstein sit down with Tyler Hassen, former Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior and author of Inside DOGE: The Real Story from a Senior Insider.After building and leading businesses in the private sector, Tyler entered Washington in 2025 and found himself overseeing billions in federal spending. What he discovered challenged his assumptions about how government operates—and how difficult it is to change.In this candid conversation, we explore:The $830 million contract: Why Tyler canceled an enormous government contract for customer-service surveys that he says nobody was reading.Inside DOGE: What it was actually like working alongside Elon Musk and the unconventional team assembled to disrupt Washington.Fraud vs. waste: The difference between illegal government spending and perfectly legal spending that makes absolutely no sense.DOGE's biggest mistakes: What Tyler believes the initiative got wrong, including the challenges of communicating change.The human cost: Death threats, personal sacrifices, and the strain of spending so little time with his young daughter.Washington vs. Wall Street: Why running a government agency is fundamentally different from running a business.America's fiscal future: The risks of mounting federal debt and whether meaningful reform is politically possible.DOGE's legacy: What actually changed, what didn't, and whether the effort was worth it.Whether you believe DOGE was a long-overdue reckoning or a reckless experiment, this conversation offers a rare firsthand perspective from someone who was actually inside the operation.Forged in America features unfiltered conversations with entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and leaders shaping the country's future.Subscribe for more candid conversations about business, leadership, politics, and the American experiment.