Inside the 1,000-Page DOGE Document Dump

The Federal Communications Commission faces mounting scrutiny over its handling of a major public records request concerning personnel from the Department of Government Efficiency embedded within the agency. Advocacy group Frequency Forward and journalist Nina Burleigh sought documents to clarify the activities of DOGE staffers and examine potential conflicts of interest with DOGE creator Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX is regulated by the FCC. Instead of transparency, the agency delivered over a thousand pages of largely peripheral material, sparking allegations of deliberate obstruction and setting the stage for a contentious Senate oversight hearing.

In late February, a Freedom of Information Act request was filed seeking all records related to DOGE personnel accessing FCC systems, meetings between the groups, employee onboarding, and any travel by FCC Chair Brendan Carr to Musk-affiliated entities. The goal was to assess whether embedding these staffers created improper influence at an agency that licenses spectrum and approves devices for companies including SpaceX and its rivals. The FCC’s response has been a 1,079-page document dump filled with spreadsheets, an ethics manual, and a publicly available order, while withholding approximately 900 more pages for inter-agency consultation. Critics argue this production obscures more than it reveals.

“The documents that have been produced so far are interesting not so much in what they show, but in what they don’t show,” notes Arthur Belendiuk, the attorney litigating the FOIA case against the FCC. Significant questions remain about what DOGE staffers actually worked on, which sensitive systems they accessed, and who was fully onboarded. Frequency Forward has sued, accusing the FCC of acting in bad faith and intentionally delaying proceedings. A federal judge has ordered the agency to complete its document production by January 2026 and justify any withholdings.

The released pages identify three individuals listed in the FCC directory: Tarak Makecha, Jordan Wick, and Jacob Altik. Emails describe Makecha as a software engineer on loan from the Office of Personnel Management, Wick as a DOGE software engineer, and Altik as a DOGE attorney. In March, FCC Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt authorized staff to “discuss non-public information with the DOGE team,” and FCC employees helped arrange a meeting between the DOGE staffers and Carr. Correspondence shows these staffers proposed to provide support on FCC operations and IT systems to improve “efficiency, transparency, and responsibility.”

The documents also contradict a claim made by Carr in an April letter to Congress, where he stated only two people from DOGE had joined the FCC. Internal emails reveal confusion about Altik’s status, with Carr’s chief of staff, Greg Watson, writing he was “under the impression” Altik was “never fully on-boarded.” Watson later agreed with a redacted recommendation to ignore a press inquiry from The Verge on the matter. The record is unclear whether Altik’s hiring was halted or completed; emails show he visited the FCC in March and communicated about DOGE’s deregulatory leaderboard in April.

Notable gaps persist in the production. No emails have emerged regarding Carr’s visit to a SpaceX launch in November, which he posted about alongside photos with former President Donald Trump and Musk, despite the FOIA request covering such travel. However, the documents do reveal that Carr’s staff were eager to share perceived agency wins with the White House and DOGE, flagging initiatives like a contract review savings announcement and Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” effort to remove FCC rules.

The limited information on ethical safeguards is raising concerns. Makecha and Wick signed forms acknowledging ethics guidance and disclosing that they or their families held financial interests in business enterprises, though specifics were not provided. A confidential financial disclosure report from Wick was heavily redacted. Makecha’s background is particularly relevant; he is the former head of strategic planning at Tesla Energy and owns Tesla stock valued between $50,000 and $100,000. Given that the FCC regulates SpaceX, this connection prompts significant conflict-of-interest questions.

“There’s enough in this production to suggest that a lot of these agencies have already ceased to be independent. There’s just a real desire to demonstrate fealty to DOGE,” says Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project. He and others see the situation as part of a broader trend where the chairs of nominally independent agencies have aligned closely with presidential priorities. The documents hint at DOGE’s policy interests within the FCC, such as Wick’s request for a meeting to discuss the National Environmental Policy Act and the systems tracking its reviews, a deregulatory priority of the previous administration.

As the Senate Commerce Committee prepares for its oversight hearing, Carr’s deregulatory efforts, potentially aided by DOGE, may be discussed. However, more recent controversies could dominate the conversation, illustrating how the impact of even a disruptive force like DOGE can fade after a few news cycles. Watchdogs warn that delay is a tactic. “Throw out a lot of smoke, divert, and take a lot of time, and then like with many things, America loses interest and it’s not a story anymore,” says Scott Amey of the Project on Government Oversight. He believes the administration has a plan to delay until the revelations lose their urgency, at which point they can be dismissed as stale or fake news. The court-ordered deadline in 2026 will be the next test of whether the full story emerges.

(Source: The Verge)