Musk spoke about the threats due to his work on reducing government spending.

American entrepreneur and head of the Department of Public Efficiency USA (DOGE) Elon Musk said on February 26 that he was being threatened because of the ongoing work to reduce government spending.

If we do nothing in this direction, the country will become bankrupt, he noted at the first meeting of the cabinet of the administration headed by the President of the United States Donald Trump, which was broadcast on the White House YouTube channel.

"The country will actually go bankrupt if this continues. This is an unacceptable option. That's the essence of my job, and that's why I face criticism and death threats," Musk said.

He also stressed that the US authorities want to keep the necessary jobs and keep employees who do their jobs well, despite plans for a large-scale reduction of civil servants.

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The day before, Wired magazine reported that DOGE engineers are working on software that would help dismiss government employees. According to the newspaper, everything points to a new round of large-scale layoffs of officials.