Where the DOGE Operatives Are Now

Fourteen months ago, WIRED introduced the world to a cadre of young, inexperienced technologists who were working with Elon Musk’s newly formed, so-called Department of Government Efficiency. These workers, many of them between the ages of 19 and 24, were given the keys to the US government. They were also quickly the subject of controversy, as they laid waste to government agencies with little rhyme or reason. When Musk departed DOGE, many of the people who constituted DOGE’s early strike force dispersed.

But as the dust has settled, it’s clear that DOGE’s efforts have caused lasting damage in both large and small ways—from the more than 300,000 federal workers fired to the destruction of the US Agency for International Development to even just increased wait times for assistance on the Social Security Agency’s phone lines.

Yet its members have been given positions of increased responsibility, both inside the government and out, despite the fact that DOGE’s own members described the organization as “chaotic” and the group failed to achieve many of its goals.

Musk’s DOGE may no longer exist as it did a year ago, but its impact continues to ripple across the government. Just as Musk used allegations of fraud and waste as a way to cut government jobs and cripple whole government agencies, the Trump administration has recently maintained that it has continued taking aim at “waste, fraud, and abuse.” While some of DOGE’s operatives have remained in government, ascending to powerful positions within the administration, others have moved to the private sector. In some cases, those moves were back to companies that maintain strong connections to Musk or other players in his Silicon Valley universe.

WIRED identified 10 of these people, some of whom remain in the spotlight and others who have quietly slipped back to private life. These people were selected based on the following criteria: If their titles, roles, or details had changed in government, if WIRED could identify their current work, and if WIRED had not previously noted where in government or the private sector they had moved to.

The individuals below constitute a telling snapshot of where DOGE members have landed, and where they continue to exert influence.

Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, National Design Studio

Edward Coristine was one the earliest—and youngest —members of DOGE. He joined the organization at just 19 years old with no prior experience in government. Coristine, who used the internet moniker Big Balls (including on LinkedIn), interned at Musk’s computer-brain interface company, Neuralink, and worked for a startup that hired former blackhat hackers.

At the height of DOGE, Coristine worked across several agencies. At the Social Security Administration (SSA), a whistleblower alleged that Coristine was part of a team of engineers who sought to upload sensitive data to an unsecured cloud server; at the General Services Administration, he sat in on calls where workers were forced to defend their jobs; he was also part of the team that helped shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He appeared at half a dozen other agencies as well, including the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education.

Following Musk’s departure from the government in late June 2025, Coristine floated in and out of SSA before landing at the newly formed National Design Studio, where according to a recent interview with right-wing influencer Nick Shirley, Coristine said he is the engineering lead. Coristine has also apparently continued to help with the Trump administration’s efforts to target “fraud,” and Shirley claimed that Coristine recently helped him identify organizations in California to target for viral videos. Coristine did not respond to a request for comment.

Gavin Kliger, Department of Defense

Kliger was one of the earliest members of DOGE, appointed on January 20, 2025, to work at OPM as a senior adviser to the director for technology and delivery. Kliger previously worked at Databricks, a data analytics software company.

Early in his tenure with DOGE, Kliger worked at USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, agencies the Trump administration has attempted to shut down entirely, and the National Institutes of Health, the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and at the US Agency for Global Media, the news service funded by the US government.

In March, following a request for comment from WIRED, the Department of Defense announced that Kliger had been appointed the agency’s chief data officer. Emails released as part of Anthropic’s lawsuit against the DOD, in response to the Trump administration’s Anthropic ban after the company refused to remove restrictions about how its tools could be used by the military, reveal that Kliger was involved in the agency’s negotiations with the company.

Kliger, who had not yet been announced as the chief data officer, was copied on a March 4 email from Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei regarding a potential agreement between the DOD and Anthropic. Anthropic and Kliger did not respond to a request for comment. In response to questions from WIRED, a senior Pentagon official said, “the Department of War’s DOGE team continues to execute the Secretary’s priorities.” The response did not clarify what specific work the DOGE team was doing or who its members were.

Jeremy Lewin, State Department

A former lawyer and investment banker, Jeremy Lewin helped effectively shutter USAID early in the second Trump administration. As a result, tens of thousands of people stopped receiving treatment for diseases like tuberculosis, refugees saw food aid slashed, and sanitation projects to prevent the spread of cholera ceased. A study from The Lancet estimates that if programs previously supported by USAID remain defunded, it could lead to 14 million preventable deaths around the world.

As part of the agency’s dismantling, it was brought under the purview of the State Department, where Lewin was appointed undersecretary for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs, and religious freedom in July 2025. During his time at State, Lewin was instrumental in approving $30 million in funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the controversial aid group backed by the American and Israeli governments. Lewin also helped implement the $2 billion US contribution to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that would exclude aid to Yemen, Afghanistan, and Gaza. In a New York Times interview in July 2025, Lewin highlighted a move towards drones for certain types of humanitarian assistance. “The best foreign assistance is that which ends,” he said during the interview. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox, Private Sector

Nate Cavanaugh, a startup founder and dropout from Indiana University, was one of the earliest members of DOGE. Justin Fox had previously worked in private equity and came to the government from Nexus Capital Management.

Together, they led DOGE’s takeover of the US Institute of Peace, a Congressionally funded nonprofit. Cavanaugh was installed as its acting president, firing most of the organization’s staff and attempting to get rid of its building. These actions are subject to ongoing litigation. Cavanaugh was also appointed to be the acting director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, and then promptly placed the entirety of