Who is Akash Bobba? The Indian-origin engineer in Elon Musk’s DOGE

Bobba is a graduate of the Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology program at University of California, Berkeley. He has interned at major tech companies such as Meta, Palantir and hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team is made up of six young engineers between the ages of 19 and 24 with little to no government experience. The new hires are recent college graduates and one still a student. This move has sparked concern among experts about their access to sensitive government data and lack of experience in government affairs can have serious implications on national security.

The team includes Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. Among them is 22-year-old Indian-American Akash Bobba.

Bobba is a graduate of the Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology program at the University of California, Berkeley. He has interned at major tech companies such as Meta, Palantir and hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. He has worked extensively in artificial intelligence, data analytics and financial modelling techniques.

As per a report in The Telegraph, at his graduation in 2021, he urged classmates to “seek discomfort”. “We live in an age where simplicity reigns supreme, where 30-second TikToks and 280-character tweets come to define our identities,” he said. “This increasing willingness to simplify even the most complex narratives into sensational tidbits, perpetuates misinformation and in the process divides the communities, families, and relationships we cherish. What’s the solution, you might ask? Seek discomfort.”

A student at UC Berkeley, Charis Zhang wrote on X, which highlighting Bobba's proficiency in coding gained much traction online. The post read, “Let me tell you something about Akash. During a project at Berkeley, I accidentally deleted our entire codebase two days before the deadline. I panicked. Akash just stared at the screen, shrugged, and rewrote everything from scratch in one night — better than before. We submitted early and got first in the class. Many such stories. I trust him with everything I own.”

Now Bobba holds the position of an expert in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and reports directly to Amanda Scales, DOGE's new Chief of Staff and a former talent acquisition lead at xAI and Uber.

Bobba reportedly has an active General Services Administration (GSA) email and A-suit level clearance which gives him access to all physical spaces and IT systems at the GSA as per a report by the Wired. Sources are concerned that these hires may have bypassed regular security clearance protocols.

Don Moynihan, professor at the University of Michigan, told Wired, “You have individuals who are not career public officials gaining access to some of the most sensitive government data. Congress has no real ability to intervene or monitor what's happening.”