America’s foreign aid agency is being dismantled by a band of university-aged tech proteges hand-picked by Elon Musk.

Six men, aged between 19 and 24 and with minimal government experience – one is still at university – are helping Mr Musk to scrap the agency as part of a wider effort to slash government spending.

The engineers given plum roles in the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) are said to have connections to the Tesla billionaire and Peter Thiel, his long-term associate and the founder of the Palantir defence firm.

The speed with which Doge has moved to crack down on government spending and personnel has triggered alarm among federal workers, who have nicknamed the newcomers “Muskovites” because of their allegedly coercive tactics, according to The Washington Post.

Wired named Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger and Ethan Shaotran as the tech proteges involved. 

Four of them are said to have been given email and A-suite clearance to the General Services Administration, which manages government buildings, giving them access to all physical spaces and IT systems.