DOGE Staffer Named as Acting Head of State Department Foreign Assistance Office

A State Department official confirmed the development.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with reporters following the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, on March 14, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

A staffer with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the effort headed by Elon Musk, was tapped to be in charge of the Office of Foreign Assistance in the State Department.

An official with the Department of State confirmed that Jeremy Lewin will be the acting director of foreign assistance in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on Tuesday, when asked about Lewin’s role in the agency. No further details were provided.

Lewin will be replacing Pete Marocco, the former acting director of the office. The director of foreign assistance is responsible for coordinating U.S. foreign aid programs, namely between the department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency that the Trump administration wants dissolved.

Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, the Trump administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid, saying the causes being funded were not aligned with Trump’s priorities and policies.

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the White House canceled more than 80 percent of all USAID programs, according to a post he made on X, which was reposted by DOGE. That includes about 5,200 contracts worth tens of billions of dollars that he said did not serve U.S. core interests.

Rubio, in an update on Tuesday, wrote on X that the State Department canceled 139 grants worth $214 million, including for programs such as “Building the Migrant Domestic Worker-Led Movement” in Lebanon or a program called “Get the Trolls Out” in the United Kingdom.

“We are cleaning up the mess the previous administration left and rebuilding an agency that’s focused on putting America First,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration, with the help of DOGE, has been slashing jobs and funding across other federal agencies and departments. Efforts to slash USAID were temporarily blocked by a federal judge in March before an appeals court later cleared the way for DOGE to resume cuts at the agency.

A three-judge panel with the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Trump administration and found that while DOGE played a part in the dismantling of USAID, the cuts were approved by Trump administration officials.

“Regardless of whether the alleged actions—authorized, ratified or not—could form the basis of a separation of powers claim that the Executive branch is dismantling USAID in contravention of the Legislative branch’s power, plaintiffs have failed, in part, to name the unconstitutional actors as defendants,” the appeals court wrote.

The panel further wrote that “while defendants’ role and actions related to USAID are not conventional, unconventional does not necessarily equal unconstitutional.”

Trump cut off foreign assistance funding through USAID and the State Department with an executive order on Jan. 20, the day he took office. The Trump administration has since closed USAID’s headquarters and pulled all but a fraction of USAID staff around the world off the job.

The activity around USAID and foreign aid programs has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other Democrats have called on the administration to restore funding for other critical programs as well through USAID.

“After months of empty promises to protect lifesaving assistance programs, support key national security interests and consult with Congress about the so called ‘90-day review’ of foreign assistance, the Trump Administration has notified Congress of their plan to fold USAID into the State Department,” she wrote in a statement last month. “However, this process was clearly not meant to be a thoughtful review, and this administration has failed to recognize that consulting with Congress is not a suggestion—it is required by law.”

Zachary Stieber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.