A handful of new employees at the Office of Personnel Management all reportedly have past connections with billionaire Elon Musk.
Citing sources within the federal government, WIRED reports that some former employees of Neuralink, Tesla, and xAI (all companies owned by Musk) have taken on high-ranking positions at the OPM, the federal governmentâs version of a human resources department.
According to the outlet, the agencyâs new chief of staff is slated to be Amanda Scales, a previous employee of Muskâs who worked in talent at his artificial intelligence company xAI.
WIREDâs sources also claim that the OPMâs new senior advisor to the director will be Riccardo Biasini, a two-time previous Musk employee who worked as an engineer at Tesla and later took on a director of operations role at Muskâs tunnel-building operation, The Boring Company.
Another staffer, who WIRED did not name because of his age, graduated from high school last year and will report directly to Scales. While the outlet did not identify the employee, it did note that his previous experiences included a stint as a camp counselor and, more notably, a summer position at NeuralinkâMuskâs neurotechnology company that develops implantable brain-computer interfaces.
The teen is not the only young staffer on the team. A 21-year-oldâwho WIRED again did not identify because of his ageâis reportedly slated to assume an advisor role. He comes to the OPM from Palantir, a software company founded by former Musk associate Peter Thiel.
Thiel and Musk were both involved with PayPal, which Thiel also co-founded.
The new employees did not immediately reply to WIREDâs request for comment. The OPM did not immediately reply to The Daily Beastâs request for comment.
Donald Trump previously announced author Scott Kupor, who has voiced his support for Muskâs new Department of Government Efficiency, as his pick to run the OPM.
On Tuesday, the OPM issued a memo to full-time federal staffers offering them a buyout that will keep them paid through September 30, if they decide to resign by February 6. A senior administration official told Axios that the buyouts will ensure âall federal workers are on board with the new administrationâs planâ and that they will adhere to âhigher standards.â