Oklahoma agencies must appoint a coordinator for Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Oklahoma Division of Government Efficiency “as soon as possible,” according to an internal email dated Thursday.
The coordinator must be an existing member of the agency who is “dedicated to President Trump’s vision for federal regulatory and budgetary reform in coordination and partnership with the State of Oklahoma,” according to the email from the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services obtained by The Frontier. OMES confirmed it has been in contact with state agencies to help fulfill the requirement.
The directive follows Stitt’s executive order in February to establish DOGE-OK to identify wasteful spending and improve efficiency. The move came after President Donald Trump announced the creation of the federal Department of Government Efficiency, led by South African billionaire Elon Musk. Musk and his team have laid off over 60,000 federal workers, according to numbers released this week. DOGE has claimed to have saved the federal government billions of dollars, though those numbers are disputed.
Stitt’s executive order calls for DOGE-OK to submit a report to him, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton by the end of March on strategies to reduce expenditures in each state agency. The email also directs agencies to take “immediate steps to ensure DOGE-OK receives full access to agency records, data, software systems and IT systems.”
Stitt appointed Marc Nuttle, a businessman and political insider who worked on the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan and Pat Buchanan, to administer DOGE-OK. Nuttle also coordinated fundraising efforts for Stitt’s inauguration as governor.
“Marc Nuttle is volunteering his time to lead this effort and root out additional waste. With his help, we’ll leave state government leaner than we found it,” Stitt said in a press release.
The scope and impact of DOGE-OK remains uncertain. The agency has already published a list of several “workforce efficiencies” on its website, including “automated lawnmowers,” “LED lights,” and “cellphone reduction,” along with data about state employee demographics. Its federal counterpart is set to close 15 federal offices in Oklahoma and has cut jobs at several federal workplaces in the state, including FAA, NOAA, and Social Security Administration offices as well as the Tinker Airforce Base.
The Frontier is a nonprofit newsroom that produces fearless journalism with impact in Oklahoma. Read more at www.readfrontier.org.
