type: timeline_event Sahil Lavingia, the Gumroad founder and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) engineer who was fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs in May 2025 for publicly discussing his work with reporters, quietly rejoined the federal government in November 2025 as a career employee at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where he now manages online account systems with stated plans to remain for the next decade. Lavingia revealed his return to government service during a WIRED "Big Interview" event in early December 2025, disclosing that Sam Corcos—a fellow DOGE operative who became Treasury's Chief Information Officer—reached out and facilitated his placement at the IRS after reading Lavingia's detailed account of his government experience. The case represents a troubling pattern of DOGE-linked personnel infiltrating agencies despite previous terminations for policy violations, raises serious concerns about whistleblower retaliation and agency capture, and specifically threatens IRS independence by placing a DOGE-affiliated engineer with access to taxpayer data and critical tax systems.
Lavingia originally joined government as a senior advisor to the chief of staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of DOGE's effort to identify inefficiencies and implement cost-cutting measures. However, his tenure ended abruptly in May 2025 when he "got the boot" from DOGE without warning the day after Fast Company published an interview in which he candidly discussed his experiences and findings. In that interview, Lavingia made statements that contradicted DOGE's narrative about rampant government waste and inefficiency, notably telling the publication: "It's not as inefficient as I was expecting, to be honest. I was hoping for more easy wins."
This honest assessment of government efficiency—finding that many problems stemmed not from lack of technical expertise or waste but from complicated legal and policy requirements—ran counter to the DOGE messaging that justified aggressive workforce reductions and institutional disruption. Lavingia's firing for speaking to the press represented clear whistleblower retaliation, punishing him for providing accurate information that complicated the DOGE narrative of massive government waste requiring radical intervention. The termination sent a chilling message to other DOGE personnel and government employees that candid discussion of their work with media would result in immediate dismissal.
Following his firing from the VA, Lavingia wrote extensively on his personal blog about his government experience, detailing both the technical challenges and the institutional complexities he encountered. Rather than embracing DOGE's characterization of government workers as ineffective and systems as wasteful, Lavingia came to appreciate that "many problems were not due to a lack of technical expertise, but to complicated legal and policy requirements." This nuanced understanding, developed through actual engagement with government operations, contradicted the simplistic DOGE narrative and contributed to his termination for failing to adhere to the prescribed ideological line about government dysfunction.
At the WIRED Big Interview event in early December 2025, Lavingia revealed that after his VA firing, Sam Corcos contacted him after reading his detailed breakdown of government experience. Corcos, who had also worked with DOGE before becoming Treasury's Chief Information Officer, offered to connect Lavingia with people who could help him find a role where he could "put his talents to use." This outreach and facilitation by a DOGE-linked Treasury official is deeply concerning, as it suggests a deliberate strategy to place DOGE-affiliated personnel in key positions across agencies, particularly within Treasury and its components like the IRS.
Lavingia joined the IRS in November 2025 as a career employee focused on "online accounts," positioning himself as a permanent government worker rather than a political appointee or contractor. Career positions in federal civil service come with enhanced job protections and make it difficult to remove employees even if they engage in activities contrary to agency mission or if administrations change. By obtaining career status at the IRS, Lavingia has effectively entrenched himself in one of the most sensitive agencies in government—an agency with access to all Americans' tax returns, financial information, and enforcement powers that could be weaponized for political purposes.
During his WIRED appearance, Lavingia stated that he anticipates working for the government for the next 10 years and that his work will focus on modernizing software for taxpayers. While software modernization is a legitimate need for the IRS, which has struggled with outdated technology systems, Lavingia's DOGE background and connections to Elon Musk's efficiency operation raise serious questions about whether his work will serve taxpayers and institutional integrity or whether he will advance DOGE's agenda of disruption, data access, and potential weaponization of IRS capabilities.
The placement of a DOGE-linked engineer with a stated 10-year timeline in a position managing IRS online account systems is particularly alarming given the sensitivity of IRS data and functions. The IRS maintains detailed financial information on every American taxpayer, including income, assets, deductions, and enforcement actions. Online account systems represent a key interface between taxpayers and the agency, and someone with administrative access to these systems could potentially manipulate data, surveil individuals, alter enforcement priorities, or extract information for political purposes. Placing someone with DOGE connections in such a position creates obvious risks of agency capture and politicization of tax enforcement.
Sam Corcos's role in facilitating Lavingia's IRS placement is especially concerning given Corcos's position as Treasury's Chief Information Officer. Treasury oversees the IRS, and the CIO position gives Corcos significant influence over technology strategy, system access, and personnel decisions across Treasury components. The fact that Corcos specifically reached out to Lavingia after his VA firing and helped arrange his IRS position suggests a coordinated effort to embed DOGE-aligned personnel in key positions within Treasury and IRS, potentially building a network of ideologically aligned insiders with access to sensitive financial data and tax enforcement systems.
The pattern of DOGE operatives transitioning into permanent government positions, particularly in agencies they previously targeted for disruption, represents a form of institutional capture. Rather than temporary consultants identifying inefficiencies and then departing, DOGE-linked personnel are entrenching themselves in career positions with long-term access to sensitive systems and data. This transformation from external disruptors to internal permanent employees with civil service protections makes it extremely difficult to remove them even if their activities prove harmful to agency mission or institutional integrity.
Lavingia's changed perspective on government efficiency—from expecting "easy wins" to recognizing complex legal and policy constraints—makes his continued association with DOGE ideology problematic. While he appears to have gained genuine appreciation for government complexity, his return to government service was facilitated by DOGE connections and Treasury officials who presumably expect him to advance DOGE objectives. This creates tensions between his stated understanding of government operations and the expectations of the network that placed him in his IRS position, raising questions about whether he will serve taxpayers and institutional mission or maintain loyalty to the DOGE agenda and personnel who enabled his return.
The IRS has already faced significant threats under the Trump administration, including massive staffing cuts, attacks on enforcement capacity, and efforts to weaponize tax enforcement against political opponents. Placing DOGE-linked personnel in key technology positions within the agency exacerbates these threats by creating potential access points for political manipulation of tax data and enforcement systems. Someone with administrative access to online account systems could potentially identify political opponents for enhanced scrutiny, access confidential tax information for political purposes, or manipulate systems to benefit Trump allies—exactly the kind of corruption that independent tax enforcement is meant to prevent.
Government Executive's reporting on Lavingia's original VA firing emphasized that he was terminated for speaking with media about his work, violating DOGE's strict communications policies that prohibited personnel from discussing their activities or findings with press. The fact that someone fired for policy violations and whistleblower activities was subsequently placed in a sensitive career position at another agency demonstrates the failure of government safeguards that should prevent such problematic personnel movements. Standard security and ethics reviews should have flagged Lavingia's previous termination for policy violations when considering his IRS career application, but the facilitation by high-level Treasury officials apparently overrode normal vetting processes.
NPR's June 2025 interview with Lavingia after his VA firing revealed his evolving understanding of government operations and his criticism of DOGE's approach. He emphasized that government technology problems often reflect broader institutional challenges rather than simple inefficiency, and that many government workers are dedicated professionals constrained by resources and regulations rather than incompetent bureaucrats. These insights, while valuable, made him a liability to DOGE's narrative and resulted in his termination. The question now is whether Lavingia will apply these insights to genuinely serve IRS mission and taxpayers, or whether he will be pressured by his DOGE connections to advance their agenda of institutional disruption.
Federal News Network reported in August 2025 that Lavingia, after his VA firing, publicly argued that government isn't recruiting enough tech talent and needs to modernize its approach to technology workers. While this critique has merit, his subsequent return to government via DOGE connections rather than standard hiring processes undermines his arguments about recruitment and suggests his own placement resulted from political networking rather than normal talent recruitment mechanisms. This raises questions about whether his stated commitment to improving government technology recruitment is genuine or merely provides cover for placing politically connected personnel in sensitive positions.
The broader pattern of DOGE operatives obtaining permanent government positions represents a significant threat to institutional independence and merit-based civil service. Rather than temporary consultants who review operations and provide recommendations before departing, DOGE personnel are converting their temporary assignments into permanent career positions with civil service protections, particularly in sensitive agencies like Treasury components. This allows them to maintain long-term influence over agency operations, technology systems, and data access while claiming the protections of career civil service status that makes them difficult to remove even if they engage in activities contrary to agency mission.
Lavingia's stated plan to remain at the IRS for 10 years—taking him through potential future administrations—suggests a long-term entrenchment strategy. By obtaining career status and positioning himself as a technology expert essential to IRS modernization efforts, he becomes increasingly difficult to remove regardless of who controls the executive branch. This entrenchment of DOGE-linked personnel in permanent positions across government agencies represents a form of deep state capture, ironically implementing exactly the kind of unaccountable embedded influence that DOGE rhetoric claims to oppose.
The case also highlights the revolving door between DOGE operations and permanent government positions, particularly when facilitated by DOGE-linked officials who have obtained high-level appointments in agencies. Corcos's path from DOGE to Treasury CIO, and his subsequent facilitation of Lavingia's IRS placement, exemplifies how initial DOGE placements can create networks that then place additional DOGE-aligned personnel throughout government. This network-building threatens to create ideological enclaves within agencies that maintain loyalty to DOGE agenda and personnel rather than to institutional mission and public service.
The placement of someone with Lavingia's background—fired from one agency for policy violations and public statements contradicting official narratives—in a career position at the IRS without apparent consequences for his previous termination sends a troubling message about accountability and vetting standards for sensitive positions. If previous policy violations and terminations don't disqualify personnel from obtaining career positions in agencies handling confidential taxpayer data and tax enforcement powers, then the safeguards meant to protect institutional integrity and prevent agency capture have failed. The fact that this placement was facilitated by high-level officials rather than proceeding through normal hiring processes compounds the failure of these safeguards.
As Lavingia settles into his role managing IRS online account systems with plans for a decade-long tenure, the risks of DOGE infiltration and agency capture at the IRS grow more concrete. The combination of DOGE ideological orientation, connections to Musk's efficiency operation, facilitation by Treasury officials with DOGE ties, access to sensitive taxpayer data and systems, and career status protection creates a perfect storm of threats to IRS independence and mission. Congressional oversight, inspector general investigations, and robust whistleblower protections will be essential to ensure that Lavingia and other DOGE-linked personnel at the IRS serve taxpayers and institutional mission rather than advancing political agendas or enabling the weaponization of tax enforcement powers that independent revenue collection is meant to prevent.