On March 18, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed the reins of the US Agency for International Development to Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old graduate of Harvard Law School, former investment banker, and affiliate of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. At the time, Lewin’s appointment drew criticism because of his lack of experience in government, diplomacy, or foreign assistance. But for career staff inside the agency, the issues surrounding Lewin’s new role were much more alarming than his thin résumé.
For at least two months, USAID senior staff had no knowledge of how Lewin, who appeared at the agency one day as a policymaker on an obscure detail from the General Services Administration, could have suddenly begun wielding the powers of the agency’s top official.
Internal USAID emails reviewed by WIRED reveal that during the three-week period of March 18 to April 4, during which Lewin began canceling lifesaving aid programs and personally signed off on the termination of thousands of USAID employees, he did not sign the paperwork typically required by law to begin work at the agency, despite repeated requests. In fact, his appointment was so mysterious that USAID security was unable to issue him an ID card because they had no records of his employment.
Lewin, currently director of policy planning at the State Department, tells WIRED that prior to Rubio delegating powers to him, he was “both detailed and dual appointed to work at USAID by Secretary Rubio according to well-established authorities and with the advice of State Department and White House counsel.”
Experts, though, say that while Lewin performed the duties of a top USAID leader under the title Rubio handed to him—deputy administrator of policy and programming and chief operating officer—it isn’t clear that he had the legal authority to do so. Questions about how DOGE affiliates like Lewin stepped into top roles at many federal agencies, including USAID, remain key to dozens of active lawsuits targeting DOGE and the Trump administration over federal workforce reductions, firings, and agency dismantlings.
Lewin has said, in a declaration submitted to the court in J. Doe 4 v. U.S. DOGE Service, that he began serving at USAID as a senior adviser as well as a director for strategy and programs on January 28, 2025. On March 18, according to court filings, Rubio, in his role as USAID’s acting administrator, delegated the authority of the deputy administrator of policy and programming and chief operating officer to Lewin, and also signed a document appointing Lewin an “officer of the United States.”
According to the emails reviewed by WIRED, on March 20, two days after Rubio placed Lewin atop the USAID hierarchy, White House liaison to USAID Adam Korzeniewski notified HR to begin the process of onboarding Lewin as a senior adviser performing duties as deputy administrator. Four days later, the emails reveal, after prompting from HR, Korzeniewski provided a proposed start date—March 18—and the next day, Lewin was sent a temporary job offer.