Special Government employees need to get clearance and be vetted prior to gaining access to the White House.
[a] The SGE category was created by Congress in 1962 and was aimed at allowing the federal government to take advantage of outside experts who are employed in the private sector.
An SGE who is expected to work more than 60 days in a year and is paid at least 120% of the minimum for a GS-15 must file similar reports as a regular employee.
[6] SGEs who do not meet both the 60 day and pay requirements must file confidential financial disclosures unless their position entails only a remote possibility of a conflict of interest or is low enough to make reporting unnecessary.
[6] Notable examples of SGEs include Huma Abedin (who was an SGE in the State Department in 2012, working for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton[2]), Scott Atlas (an advisor appointed by President Donald Trump to the White House Coronavirus Task Force in 2020[7]), and Elon Musk (appointed leader of the Department of Government Efficiency in 2025).