"Elon Musk has said that when you do something, you make mistakes, and then you need to fix it. I agree with this point of view. I also think it is important to correct the mistake quickly," Mr. Vance said in an interview on March 14.
According to NBC News, after President Donald Trump took office, Elon Musk was tasked with cutting federal spending and reforming the operating apparatus.
In the first seven weeks of the new administration, he laid off thousands of federal employees, saying many of them were bedridders who were not worthy of taking on the job.
However, Vance Vice President is more cautious. He emphasized that there are many good civil servants working effectively and the government needs to retain capable people, while eliminating individuals who do not contribute positively. "I understand that there are many people who are doing their job well. We want to keep what is effective and eliminate what is ineffective, he said.
Mr. Vance also admitted that there was a situation where some civil servants received salaries but did not actually work. "I don't know exactly how many out of three million federal employees, it could be a few thousand or more, good civil servants don't want to work with people who only make their work more difficult."
As one of the major donors to Mr. Trump's campaign, Elon Musk has strongly promoted the government streamlining process with the goal of cutting hundreds of thousands of federal jobs, eliminating thousands of functions and even closing some government buildings.
However, this cut also causes serious consequences. In February, the Ministry of Energy fired hundreds of employees of the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) as part of a streamlining campaign launched by the Government Efficiency Board (DOGE).
One of the most severely affected facilities is the Pantex plant in Texas, which is responsible for safely dismantling old nuclear warheads. Many of the fired employees have Q-licenses, which allow access to confidential nuclear documents. Experts warn that sacking the group could create security risks, as it holds key information that could fall into the hands of neighboring countries or terrorist organizations.
Under pressure from lawmakers, the US Department of Energy later overturned the decision and called on dismissed employees to return to work.
On March 6, President Trump set new limits on DOGE, requiring cabinet ministers, not Musk or DOGE, to decide whether to fire employees.
