DOGE associate is made acting head of foreign assistance at the State Department, a US official says

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has expanded the power of adviser Elon Musk's government-cutting team over the State Department, making a Musk lieutenant acting head of foreign assistance.

A senior U.S. official confirmed the new job for Jeremy Lewin, an associate of the Department of Government Efficiency earlier appointed to help finish dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. The official was not authorized to comment publicly on a personnel matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The move comes as President Donald Trump's administration is pushing to greatly reduce what in 2024 was $52 billion in humanitarian, health and development programs overseas by the State Department and USAID. Lewin's appointment gives Musk's team, which has worked with the Republican administration to make deep cuts to government programs and services, one of its highest formal positions in the federal government.

Lewin's appointment follows the departure of a Trump political appointee, Pete Marocco, as the administration's head of foreign assistance. State officials credited Marocco with helping oversee the elimination of staff, programs and funding at USAID. Marocco reportedly clashed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others in the administration and Congress.

On Tuesday, Rubio said he had canceled 139 additional foreign assistance grants worth $214 million, including for programs he described as ''misguided," such as ''Building the Migrant Domestic Worker-Led Movement'' in Lebanon and ''Get the Trolls Out!'' in the U.K.

''We are cleaning up the mess the previous administration left and rebuilding an agency that's focused on putting America first,'' Rubio said in a post on X.

The Trump administration and DOGE have been slashing jobs and funding across the federal government, and a preliminary proposal for some of the latest cuts is targeting the State Department.

OMB recommended total funding of $28.4 billion for both the State Department and surviving USAID programs for the coming year, a drop of $26 billion from last fiscal year, according to a State Department memo laying out the proposal it received from OMB.

The proposal, which was presented to the State Department last week and is still in a highly preliminary phase, is not expected to pass muster with either the department's leadership or Congress.

Officials familiar with the proposal say it must still go through several rounds of review before it even gets to lawmakers, who in the past have amended and even rejected White House budget requests.

OMB spokesperson Alexandra McCandless said Monday that ''no final funding decisions have been made.''

The memo said OMB proposed:

— Freezing pay through next year, and cutting travel and benefits for U.S. foreign service staffers.

— Eliminating global health funding by 54% — from $10 billion to $4.6 billion — and keeping only small amounts for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria treatment programs. Require global health partners to contribute a bigger share.

— Eliminating funding to the United Nations, a major logistical partner key to many humanitarian efforts around the world, and more than 20 other major international organizations, including NATO.

— Preserving only limited funding for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which would be in charge of inspecting any potential nuclear deal with Iran; the Organization of American States; the International Civil Aviation Organization; the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; and the International Maritime Organization.

— Eliminating grants for the National Endowment for Democracy and for the Asia Foundation and East-West Center, which previous administrations had sought advice from on how to deal with China.

— Eliminating the government's independent watchdog office looking for waste and inefficiency in U.S. programs in Afghanistan.

— Cutting a number of refugee and immigration programs, and move them under a new bureau for international humanitarian affairs.

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