Wired: DOGE-linked Jeremy Lewin ran USAID cuts without completing onboarding, emails show

Left · 1Wired reported on 27 October, citing internal USAID emails it reviewed, that Jeremy Lewin did not sign the paperwork typically required by law to begin work at USAID between 18 March and 4 April 2025, despite repeated requests, while Lewin was cancelling aid programmes and signing off on staff terminations. 1 Left · 2Court filings say that on 18 March 2025 Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as USAID's acting administrator, delegated the powers of deputy administrator for policy and programming and chief operating officer to Lewin and appointed Lewin an "officer of the United States". 1 2 Left · 2According to the emails, White House liaison Adam Korzeniewski asked HR on 20 March to begin onboarding Lewin, proposed a 18 March start date, and a temporary job offer was sent on 25 March; by 26 March Lewin had neither accepted it nor filed the OF-306 pre-employment screening form, without which an agency cannot lawfully complete an appointment. 1 2

Left · 2On 28 March Lewin signed a letter terminating all remaining USAID staff, which NPR reported at the time covered nearly all of the agency's last 900 employees; the same day the Fourth Circuit paused a judge's order blocking further cuts, on the administration's argument that Lewin acted as a federally appointed official. 1 2 Left · 1More than a week after the appointment, a USAID official told Korzeniewski that agency security could not issue Lewin an ID card because its database "did not have a record of Jeremy as an employee"; a top HR executive said no one in HR saw delegation documents until late April 2025, and an anonymous longtime HR executive called Lewin "an administrative ghost". 1 Left · 2Lewin, now director of policy planning at the State Department, told Wired that he was "both detailed and dual appointed to work at USAID by Secretary Rubio" with advice from State Department and White House counsel, that he was a regular government employee with a valid security clearance held by State, and that HR's confusion over paperwork lasted "a period of days". 1 2

Left · 1A White House official told Wired that Lewin submitted all paperwork required for employment and clearance, and Lewin gave Wired two documents dated 18 March 2025, including an appointment and compensation waiver signed by Rubio citing 22 U.S.C. § 2385(b); the State Department did not answer questions about one of them. 1 Left · 1Experts quoted by Wired disagree on legality: Georgetown's David Super and Michigan's Nina Mendelson say that, under federal law, Lewin did not appear to qualify to be assigned a Senate-confirmed official's powers, with Mendelson citing the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, while Wharton's Brian Feinstein said using § 2385(b) appears legal and Lewin's unusual status "should not be a factor". 1 Left · 1Wired said the question of how DOGE affiliates took top agency roles is central to dozens of active lawsuits; it also noted that on 18 March a Maryland court had granted a preliminary injunction against DOGE's USAID actions, the same day Rubio delegated powers to Lewin. 1

Left · 1Raw Story, summarising Wired, added earlier material: a February 2025 court declaration by a USAID contracting officer said Lewin cited sign-off by Rubio and Acting Deputy Administrator Marocco for terminations before the 18 March delegation, and Rolling Stone reported in April 2025 that a former acquaintance and five others described Lewin as holding racist views; Lewin and the administration did not respond to Rolling Stone. 2