Explained: What is ‘Manhattan Project’ that Trump called his new government’s efficiency initiative, led by Elon Musk

US President-elect, Donald Trump has named Tesla CEO, Elon Musk and Indian-American entrepreneur, Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE) in his government.

In his announcement, Trump said that Musk and Ramaswamy would work outside of traditional government structures to provide ‘advice and guidance’ to the White House, collaborate with the Office of Management and Budget to spearhead ‘large-scale structural reform.’

What is DOGE?

DOGE will be a wing in the next Trump-led US government. Trump, who defeated Kamala Harris in November 5 Presidential polls, will assume office in January.

The acronym, DOGE refers to a meme and a crypto token that Musk is often seen promoting. Though a clarity on the department's structure is awaited, but Trump said in his annoucement that Musk and Ramaswamy's mission under this department will be to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.

These roles are, however, informal and outside the government, as annouced by Trump. Hence won't not need Senate approval.

The President-elect dubbed DOGE as a potential ‘Manhattan Project.’ 

“It will become, potentially, The Manhattan Project of our time,” Trump said, referring to the speedy operation during World War II to design the first atomic bomb.

What was the Manhattan Project?

The 'Manhattan Project', led by the US in collaboration with the UK and Canada, was a top-secret research programme undertaken during World War II to create the first atomic bombs.

Thousands of scientists, including famed physicist J Robert Oppenheimer were part of the ‘Manhattan Project.’ Apart from Oppenheimer, the project brought together some of the world's best scientists, including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and Niels Bohr.

It was the ‘Manhattan Project that’ eventually resulted in the creation of the two atomic bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 killing thousands of people.

“The project ushered in the nuclear age and left enduring legacies that echo all around us today,” reads a note on the National Park Service, an agency of the United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior.

The project kicked off in response to fears that German scientists were working on a weapon using nuclear technology since the 1930s. The fear was that Adolf Hitler would use the weapons in the war.

130,000 people employed

Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers lead the project from 1942 to 1946. Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the bombs. The project was designed at the Manhattan district in New York, and hence the name. While the secret project is known more by ‘Manhattan’ it's official code name was ‘Development of Substitute Materials.’

The project is said to have employed about 130,000 people at one point. It cost nearly $2 billion at that time. The research and production work was undertaken across 30 sites in the US, the UK, and Canada.

Roosevelt sets up committe

In 1939, scientists Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt to set up the new advistory committee on Uranium to study the potential role of the metal as a weapon. The US government began funding the research by scientists Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard at Columbia University, based on the committee’s findings.

In 1940, the committee on Uranium was renamed as the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) and then as the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) in 1941. 

In 1942 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour (December 1941), President Roosevelt declared that the US would enter World War II and align with UK, France and Russia to fight against the Germans and the Japanese. With the US now at war, the need for an atomic bomb was felt.

To achieve this, all the different reaseach efforts were merged in December 1942 by setting up the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) by the Army Corps of Engineers. MED was led by Brigadier General Leslie R Groves. Fermi and Szilard continued their work at the University of Chicago. Other scientists like Glenn Seaborg worked in Canada.

Oppenheimer's role

This ‘Manhattan Project’ as it is now know largely remained secret even though it involved hundreds of thousands of workers across the country.

The ultimate goal was to weaponise nuclear energy. Gradually, facilities were set up in New Mexico, Tennessee and Washington. Sites were also set up in Canada.

In 1943, Oppenheimer was named director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in northern New Mexico. The laboratory complex was where the first ‘Manhattan Project’ bombs were built and tested.

On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was successfully detonated in the event called ‘the Trinity Test’ in a desert location near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Oppenheimer and his team of scientists had developed two types of bombs – a uranium-based bomb called ‘the Little Boy’ and a plutonium-based weapon called ‘the Fat Man.’

On August 6, 1945, a bomber plane dropped the ‘Little Boy’ bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, the ‘Fat Man’ bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The two bombs combined resulted in the death of about 100,000 people.

Japan formally surrendered on August 14, 1945. The World War II ended.

The ‘Manhattan Project’ is often credited for ending the World War II but also initiated the nuclear age, shaping geopolitics and military strategy in the 20th censtury. Besides, it also raised some ethical questions about nuclear weapons and the devastating effects on humanity.