Brian Bjelde
Tech Industry Links: SpaceX, Twitter
Exited govt: 5/16/25 (inferred)
A SpaceX veteran who has spent 20 years at the company, Brian Bjelde also helped Elon Musk to drastically cut staff after his takeover of Twitter. It seems like Brian ia happy being a hatchet man, and he likely has been involved in the efforts to cut government staff, including a plan to eliminate 70% of the positions at OPM. He has been keeping a low profile, but the government recently reported that OPM-07 (Brian Bjelde) left working for the agency on 2025-05-16, so he’s presumably no longer in government service.
Positions
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 96 Court Document, 5/16/25 |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 163 Court Document, 12/05/25 |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 97 Court Document, 5/16/25 |
Events
1/17/25
Action:
Noah Peters recalls that he met with Amanda Scales and Brian Bjelde on this day to plan for their upcoming first day at OPM.
Action:
Noah Peters recalls that he met with Amanda Scales and Brian Bjelde on this day to plan for their upcoming first day at OPM.
| Person: | Amanda Scales, Brian Bjelde, Noah Peters |
| Source: | AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 188-1 Court Document, 4/08/25 |
| Agency: | OPM |
1/20/25
Appointed:
Brian Bjelde starts as Expert at OPM.
Appointed:
Brian Bjelde starts as Expert at OPM.
| Appointed: | Brian Bjelde 1/20/25-1/31/25 |
| Position Title: | Expert, Office of the Director |
| Salary: | Volunteer |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 96 Court Document, 5/16/25 |
| Note: | likely Schedule C |
:
Brian Bjelde is granted basic access to 2 systems at OPM.
:
Brian Bjelde is granted basic access to 2 systems at OPM.
| System Access: | github.opm.gov: OPM GitHub Organization |
| : | unknown, 1/20/25 Brian Bjelde |
| : | unknown, 1/20/25 Brian Bjelde |
| Note: | A service owned by Microsoft for developers to run version control on their applications and back them up to shared repositories that can be used by other developers. Github is provided as both a hosted service (at github.com) or via versions that can be installed with agency data centers (aka GitHub Enterprise or GHE). Access to Github would be expected for developers, but doesn't necessarily mean the person is a coder. |
| System Access: | USA Performance |
| : | unknown, 1/20/25 Brian Bjelde |
| Note: | System tracking job performance of federal employees |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-Personnel |
:
Brian Bjelde is granted elevated access to 2 systems at OPM.
:
Brian Bjelde is granted elevated access to 2 systems at OPM.
| System Access: | opm.gov: OPM Website |
| : | admin, 1/20/25 Brian Bjelde |
| Note: | The OPM website |
| System Access: | USA Staffing |
| : | admin, 1/20/25 Brian Bjelde |
| Note: | A platform for federal agencies to recruit and onboard employees. |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-Personnel |
Identification:
Multiple DOGE staff start working at OPM and are listed as part of the Office of the Director.
Identification:
Multiple DOGE staff start working at OPM and are listed as part of the Office of the Director.
| Person: | Akash Bobba, Amanda Scales, Anthony Armstrong, Brian Bjelde, Gavin Kliger, Joanna Wischer, Noah Peters, Riccardo Biasini |
| Source: | Here Are the Job Titles and Salary Ranges of Some DOGE Staffers Bloomberg, 5/02/25 |
| Agency: | OPM |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-Personnel |
System Access:
IT staff at OPM are pulled into a “911-esque call” requesting that “a political team” of 6 individuals must be given access to OPM systems. These include Charles Ezell, Greg Hogan, and Amanda Scales, as well as unidentified employees OPM-03 (Akash Bobba), OPM-05 (Gavin Kliger) and OPM-07 (Brian Bjelde). These DOGE staffers are granted administrative access to USAJOBS, USA Staffing, and USA Performance systems.
System Access:
IT staff at OPM are pulled into a “911-esque call” requesting that “a political team” of 6 individuals must be given access to OPM systems. These include Charles Ezell, Greg Hogan, and Amanda Scales, as well as unidentified employees OPM-03 (Akash Bobba), OPM-05 (Gavin Kliger) and OPM-07 (Brian Bjelde). These DOGE staffers are granted administrative access to USAJOBS, USA Staffing, and USA Performance systems.
| Person: | Akash Bobba, Amanda Scales, Brian Bjelde, Charles Ezell, Gavin Kliger, Greg Hogan |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 121 Court Document, 6/09/25 |
| Agency: | OPM |
| DOGE Project: | Impunity, Anti-Personnel |
1/31/25
Converted to Permanent Position:
Brian Bjelde converted to permanent position as Expert at OPM
Converted to Permanent Position:
Brian Bjelde converted to permanent position as Expert at OPM
| Converted to Permanent Position: | Brian Bjelde 1/31/25-5/16/25 |
| Position Title: | Expert, Office of the Director |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 163 Court Document, 12/05/25 |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 97 Court Document, 5/16/25 |
| Note: | permanent position approved |
2/03/25
Report:
Brian Bjelde holds a meeting with senior staff at OPM, directing them to prepare plans to eliminate 70% of the agency’s workforce at some unspecified point in the future. They are also told to identify 30% of staff that could be eliminated in the near term.
Report:
Brian Bjelde holds a meeting with senior staff at OPM, directing them to prepare plans to eliminate 70% of the agency’s workforce at some unspecified point in the future. They are also told to identify 30% of staff that could be eliminated in the near term.
| Person: | Brian Bjelde |
| Source: | Senior staff at the Office of Personnel Management told to prepare for eventual cuts to 70% of their workforce CNN, 2/03/25 |
| Agency: | OPM |
| DOGE Project: | Elimination, Anti-Personnel |
2/06/25
| Person: | Aram Moghaddassi, Brian Bjelde, Emily Bryant, Jim Hickey, Katrine Trampe, Michael Cole, Michael Grimes, Michael Mirski, Riley Sennott, Scott Coulter, Scott Langmack, Stephen Ehikian, Tarak Makecha, Tom Krause |
| Source: | FOIA response by GSA for visitor logs in 2025 Document Cloud, 4/10/26 |
| Agency: | Commerce, DOGE, DOI, DOL, GSA, HUD, NASA, OPM, Treas., USDA |
2/12/25
Identification:
In a FOIA request, Democracy Forward names DOGE staff known to be at OPM at that time.
Identification:
In a FOIA request, Democracy Forward names DOGE staff known to be at OPM at that time.
| Person: | Akash Bobba, Amanda Scales, Anthony Armstrong, Austin Raynor, Brian Bjelde, Bryanne-Michelle Mlodzianowski, Charles Ezell, Christina Hanna, Edward Coristine, Gavin Kliger, Greg Hogan, Jacob Altik, Joanna Wischer, Justin Monroe, Nikhil Rajpal, Noah Peters, Riccardo Biasini, Stephanie Holmes, Stephen Duarte |
| Source: | Complaint for Injunctive Relief Democracy Forward, 3/03/25 |
| Agency: | OPM |
5/16/25
Offboarding:
Offboarding:
| Converted to Permanent Position: | Brian Bjelde 1/31/25-5/16/25 |
| Position Title: | Expert, Office of the Director |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 163 Court Document, 12/05/25 |
| Source: | AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, doc 97 Court Document, 5/16/25 |
| Note: | permanent position approved |