Role: Senior advisor at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), January – April 2025; previously Global Head of Technology M&A at Morgan Stanley (a position he held from 2015); lead Morgan Stanley advisor to Elon Musk on the 2022 Twitter (now X) acquisition. Departed OPM in April 2025; subsequently named CFO of both xAI and X — Musk’s AI company and social-media platform (Banking Dive; CFO Dive, 2025).

Status: Departed federal service April 2025; now CFO of two of Musk’s most strategically important private companies.

Basis for Inclusion

Subject classification: Public Official (senior advisor at a federal agency).

Anchor met: Public Official acting in formal federal capacity.

Background

Armstrong was Morgan Stanley’s Global Head of Technology M&A starting in 2015. He personally advised Musk on the 2022 Twitter acquisition — the foundational deal that gave Musk control of the social-media platform now named X.

DOGE Role

• OPM senior advisor (January 2025): Armstrong joined OPM as senior advisor as part of the broader takeover of the agency by Musk-allied operators alongside Brian Bjelde and others.
• Modeling memo: Armstrong told OPM employees that DOGE was looking to OPM as a model to reduce the footprint of the federal workforce — explicitly positioning OPM as the prototype for DOGE-coordinated agency reductions across government (Revolving Door Project, “DOGE Agent: Anthony Armstrong,” 2025).
• Coordination with OPM Director Kupor: Coordinated workforce-reduction implementation across federal agencies in support of OPM’s role as the central choke point for federal RIF approvals.

Documented Actions

• Served as senior advisor at OPM during the period of the “Fork in the Road” deferred-resignation offer and subsequent agency RIF directives.
• Departed OPM in April 2025; the departure had not been previously reported when Notus and Banking Dive surfaced it (Notus, “Many of Musk’s DOGE Allies Have Left the Trump Administration,” 2025).
• Took the dual CFO role at xAI and X immediately upon leaving federal service (CFO Dive, Banking Dive, 2025).

Real-World Impacts

Federal Employees

• Direct role in OPM actions contributing to approximately 217,177 federal positions eliminated (OpenFeds, November 2025), including the “Fork in the Road” buyout and the 70% reduction target framework.

American Citizens (Public Services)

• Workforce reductions affected service delivery across agencies.

Vulnerable Populations

• Impacts flowed to populations dependent on SNAP, Medicaid, VA, and SSA services as those agencies shed staff.

Privacy and Data Security

• OPM advisors during this period worked alongside DOGE personnel obtaining access to OPM-held federal personnel records, including the EHRI database containing SSNs and personnel files for every federal employee.

Other Documented Harms

• AFGE v. OPM court findings against the agency Armstrong served (Federal News Network, September 2025).
• The April 2025 OPM-to-xAI/X career move epitomizes the revolving door from federal personnel authority to direct Musk-company finance leadership — particularly significant because Musk’s PAC, his federal contracts, and his private companies were all simultaneously interacting with federal authority Armstrong helped reshape.

Conflicts of Interest

• Twitter/X deal history: Direct prior commercial relationship with Musk through the 2022 acquisition financing — relevant because Musk simultaneously directed DOGE.
• xAI / X CFO appointment immediately post-OPM: The post-government move to dual CFO roles at two Musk companies created a sharp revolving-door fact pattern that drew attention from CREW and other ethics watchdogs.

Sources

• Banking Dive, “Morgan Stanley, DOGE alum tapped for xAI finance chief,” 2025
• CFO Dive, “Musk taps Morgan Stanley, DOGE alum for xAI finance chief,” 2025
• Revolving Door Project, “DOGE Agent: Anthony Armstrong,” 2025
• Notus, “Many of Musk’s DOGE Allies Have Left the Trump Administration,” 2025
• Washington Post, “The list of DOGE employees working toward Elon Musk’s goals in government,” 2025
• WIRED, NYT, Washington Post DOGE/OPM coverage, 2025
• OpenFeds DOGE Impact Dashboard, November 2025
• AFGE v. OPM, N.D. Cal.