DOGE official is taking a leadership role at USAID, an email obtained by AP says

Pete Marocco, a political appointee focused on gutting USAID, departs after briefing the House Foreign Affairs Committee behind closed doors, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON — A senior official at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is taking a leadership role at the U.S. Agency for International Development, giving DOGE direct authority over an agency that it has worked to dismantle, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.

Pete Marocco, a Trump administration political appointee who was serving as deputy head of USAID, disclosed the change in the email to State Department staff. It comes after Marocco and DOGE oversaw the gutting of 83 per cent of USAID contracts, shifting the remaining programs under the State Department.

Marocco said in his email that he will serve as the State Department’s head of foreign assistance.

Marocco wrote that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will “effective immediately” designate Jeremy Lewin as deputy administrator for policy and programs at USAID and as chief operating officer.

Lewin is a DOGE official who has worked with Musk’s government-cutting efforts at USAID and other federal agencies.

Rubio also designated Kenneth Jackson as administrator for management and resources who will also serve as the agency’s chief financial officer. President Donald Trump also appointed Jackson as acting president of the U.S. Institute for Peace, a government think tank meant to promote conflict resolution.

The email outlining the DOGE team member’s appointment came the same day a federal judge ruled that Musk and DOGE appeared to have no constitutional authority for their two-month effort helping the Trump administration shut down State and USAID foreign assistance funding, fire staffers and terminate humanitarian and development contracts.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland, in a ruling Tuesday, indefinitely blocked DOGE from making further cuts to the agency.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by USAID employees and contractors, who argued that Musk and DOGE are wielding power that the Constitution reserves only for those who win elections or are confirmed by the Senate. Their lawyers said the ruling “effectively halts or reverses” many of the steps taken to dismantle the agency.

Matt Brown And Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press