DOGE staffer takes over at the State Department's office of foreign aid

Jeremy Lewin — a 28-year-old tech entrepreneur with no government experience — has just added another title to résumé: acting director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance. It’s one of several roles Lewin has taken on since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. First, he joined the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the budget-slashing office run by billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk. Then, he became instrumental in the dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development. And in March, Lewin became both the agency’s chief operating officer and deputy administrator for policy and programs, holding one of the top seats at the same agency he sought to dismantle. Lewin was at USAID for a month before he got promoted to the State Department, the agency that has since subsumed what’s left of USAID’s operations. Lewin took over the role days after Peter Marocco, former director of the department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, was seemingly ousted over the weekend — and in the midst of a budget back-and-forth that may leave the State Department with less than half of the funding it had last year. “Frankly it's just adding insult to injury,” one former USAID staffer told Devex over text message. “Lewin has proven to be this administration's henchman and despite being 27/28 and with 3 months of government experience, he has held numerous senior positions at multiple agencies concurrently.” The news about Lewin circulated the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he’d cut another 139 grants at the State Department. For weeks, both Rubio and others at the Trump administration had said the foreign aid review was over — and at the end of March, the State Department submitted a list of surviving and terminated awards to Congress. But on Tuesday, Rubio said $214 million in new awards were cut. “We are cleaning up the mess the previous administration left and rebuilding an agency that's focused on putting America First,” stated Rubio, who posted the announcement on the social media platform X. Rubio listed two programs he called “misguided,” which included support for the United Kingdom-based Get the Trolls Out, an organization focused on countering hate speech, and Migrant Workers Action, which centers on ending exploitation and human trafficking in Lebanon. Today, less than 20% of USAID has survived the Trump administration’s cull — but despite that, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters that the United States’ “commitment to foreign aid hasn’t changed.” “It would be great if nobody needed foreign aid. But we know that we are a country with incredible resources, and we have incredible responsibilities,” said Bruce, who responded to a question about the latest cuts at a press conference on Tuesday. “And we do not shy away from them — it’s part of why we do what we do.” The State Department did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.