State Department

An unnamed USAID official receives an angry late-night phone call from Peter Marocco, the newly appointed Director of Foreign Assistance at the US State Department, accusing employees of trying to subvert the President’s executive order imposing a 90-day pause on all foreign aid.

The State Department issues a memo written by Peter Marocco and signed by Marco Rubio that not only puts a halt to future foreign aid but also insists on stop-work orders for ~6200 current grants and contracts at USAID.

Edward Coristine and Luke Farritor are both listed in the State Department’s directory as Senior Advisors within the Bureau of Diplomatic Technology.

Luke Farritor uses his admin access to lock out all government officials at multiple agencies from using grants.gov to issue new grants. Instead, all grants must now be sent to a new email address which will be reviewed by DOGE staffers before grants can be posted.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces plans for a major reorganization of the State Department that would eliminate 132 offices and terminate roughly 700 positions in DC. It also would reduce monitoring of war crimes and global conflicts.

Jeremy Lewin signs off on an award to a Trump-backed aid group in Gaza, despite objections that the group failed to meet “minimum technical or budgetary standards” and waived mandatory counter-terrorism and fraud safeguards. The funding request was made by Kenneth Jackson, who ignored 58 objections raised by former USAID staff.

In an email to agency partners, the operators of grants.gov declare that the revised mechanism added in April that routed all Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) through a DOGE email address has been reversed. Instead, agencies are to return to using the tool like that did previously. This doesn’t necessarily mean that DOGE or political appointees will not be reviewing grants, but they have no longer locked other users out of the system.

The State Department lays off more than 1300 people – many specializing in violent extremism, refugee resettlement and women’s rights – as part of a sweeping reorganization announced by Marco Rubio on April 22. The terminated staff will be placed on a 120-day administrative leave period before formally losing their jobs.

Jeremy Lewin is promoted to Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs and Religious Freedom in the State Department. This is the third highest rank in the agency and he is possibly the youngest person to ever hold it.

Months after the destruction of USAID and folding in some of its staff and responsibilities into the US Department of State, the Trump administration incinerates 500 million tons of emergency food biscuits worth $800,000 rather than sending it to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where it could have fed 1.5 million children for a week because it was due to expire. Marco Rubio had promised the House Appropriations Committee that he would ensure food aid is distributed before expiration, but the government eliminated all aid to Afghanistan and refused to divert the food to other emergency crises. The cost of destroying the biscuits will be $130,000 making this nearly a $1 million dollar loss incurred by DOGE (not to mention lives that will be lost).

Congress passess a $9 billion recissions package that codifies DOGE cuts to foreign aid and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, despite concerns from Democrats and two Senate Republicans that its cuts are purposefully vague and undermine Congress’ role in the budget process.