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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Sahil Lavingia, a software engineer assigned to the Department of Veterans Affairs through DOGE, says his VA access was revoked soon after a May 2025 interview in which he described the agency’s employees as committed and government as less inefficient than he expected. The timing is documented in Lavingia’s own account; the available reporting does not independently establish that his comments caused the decision. He later returned to federal employment at the IRS.
Who was the DOGE operative?
Lavingia, the founder of software company Gumroad, says he joined DOGE as a software engineer assigned to the VA on March 17, 2025. He described himself as a senior adviser to the VA chief of staff and said the job was unpaid. Those details come from his first-person account, not an independently published personnel record. Lavingia’s account
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What did he say about government efficiency?
In a May 8, 2025 interview with Fast Company, Lavingia said he found VA colleagues who cared about their work and that government was “not as inefficient as I was expecting.” He added, “I was hoping for more easy wins.” Describing the workplace, he said, “I would say the culture shock is mostly a lot of meetings, not a lot of decisions.” Fast Company’s interview
His assessment was not that government had no problems. In his May 28 account, he described slow processes and technical constraints, as well as limits on getting prototypes into production. He said he worked on contract-analysis software, organizational-chart tools, modernization of the VA’s internal ChatGPT interface, and a chatbot demonstration. He also wrote that he did not improve the user experience for veterans filing disability claims or speed claims processing as he had hoped, because he lacked approval to ship the prototypes that might have enabled those changes. These are Lavingia’s descriptions of his work and its limits, not an independent assessment of results. His May account
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Was he fired because of the interview?
Lavingia wrote that his access was revoked soon after the Fast Company interview appeared, then concluded, “My DOGE days were over.” Fast Company’s May 28 update reported his view that the interview cost him the position. That establishes a sequence and his interpretation of it, but neither account independently confirms the decision-maker’s reason. The careful answer is that Lavingia says he lost access after the interview; the public reporting cited here does not prove he was removed because of what he said.
What scrutiny did DOGE’s VA work face?
A separate ProPublica investigation published June 6, 2025 examined AI prompts and code DOGE used to review VA contracts related to veterans’ health. ProPublica reported that experts who reviewed the code found “numerous and troubling flaws in the system.” That finding raises questions about the contract-review tool, but it is not an audit of all Lavingia’s work and does not by itself settle whether government is efficient overall. ProPublica’s investigation
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Did Lavingia leave government permanently?
No. WIRED reported on December 4, 2025, that Lavingia had joined the IRS in November as a career employee working on online accounts. In that later account, he summarized his view this way: “The government is pretty efficient,” he said. “Could move faster.” His return to federal work makes the story more complicated than a lasting break with government service. WIRED’s December report
Quick Recap
What the evidence establishes—and what it does not
- Established by Lavingia’s account: he says he joined DOGE at the VA in March 2025 and that his access was revoked soon after the May interview.
- Reported publicly: he expressed surprise at how capable and committed VA employees were, while also describing slow processes and constraints on implementation.
- Not independently established in these accounts: that his comments were the reason for the access revocation.
- Separately reported: experts identified serious flaws in code used for DOGE’s VA contract analysis; this finding has a narrower scope than a verdict on the whole agency or Lavingia’s entire tenure.
- Later development: WIRED reported that Lavingia returned to federal employment at the IRS in November 2025.
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