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.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
