Cole Killian
Exited govt: 6/27/25 (inferred)
Gautier “Cole” Killian was identified early as one of the initial DOGE employees, and there are reports of him interviewing USDS staff about their roles as early as January 21st. He was also spotted in a few of the early wrecking crew raids, but he has largely fallen off the radar since the end of February, when he was detailed to the Social Security Administration. Perhaps he is one of the still-unidentified aliases there and more details of his involvement will become apparent in future court filings and FOIA releases.
Positions
Appointed:
1/20/25-6/27/25 «reported as interviewing USDS staff about jobs, not found in GSA or OPM lists»
Offboarding:
Left govt 6/27/25 (inferred)
Appointed:
1/20/25-6/27/25 «reported as interviewing USDS staff about jobs, not found in GSA or OPM lists»
Offboarding:
Left govt 6/27/25 (inferred)
| Source: | The Authors Guild/American Council of Learned Societies v. National Endowment for the Humanities, doc 122-2 Court Document, 2/17/26 |
| Source: | Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’ Wired Magazine, 3/13/25 |
Detailed To:
2/04/25-6/27/25? detailed from DOGE Federal Detailee «Reported as ending in June and left DOGE on 6/27»
Offboarding:
Left govt 6/27/25 (inferred)
Detailed To:
2/04/25-6/27/25? detailed from DOGE Federal Detailee «Reported as ending in June and left DOGE on 6/27»
Offboarding:
Left govt 6/27/25 (inferred)
| Source: | DOGE aide pops up in EPA staff directory E&E News, 2/04/25 |
| Source: | Inside DOGE’s EPA Team and Its Multimillion-Dollar Mistakes NOTUS, 9/25/25 |
| Source: | DOGE software approval alarms Labor Department employees NBC News, 2/13/25 |
| Source: | Onboarding documentation at SSA for "Employee 5" Document Cloud, 4/09/25 |
Events
1/20/25
Appointed:
Cole Killian starts at DOGE.
Appointed:
Cole Killian starts at DOGE.
| Appointed: | Cole Killian 1/20/25-6/27/25 |
| Source: | The Authors Guild/American Council of Learned Societies v. National Endowment for the Humanities, doc 122-2 Court Document, 2/17/26 |
| Source: | Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’ Wired Magazine, 3/13/25 |
| Note: | reported as interviewing USDS staff about jobs, not found in GSA or OPM lists |
1/21/25
Disruption:
Nikhil Rajpal and Cole Killian start screening all preexisting USDS staff with short interviews, asking them their views of DOGE and to name who they think are underperformers that should be fired.
Disruption:
Nikhil Rajpal and Cole Killian start screening all preexisting USDS staff with short interviews, asking them their views of DOGE and to name who they think are underperformers that should be fired.
| Person: | Cole Killian, Nikhil Rajpal |
| Source: | Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’ Wired Magazine, 3/13/25 |
| Agency: | DOGE |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-Personnel |
2/04/25
Detailed To:
Detailed To:
| DOGE Detailed To: EPA Cole Killian 2/04/25-6/27/25? | |
| Position Title: | Federal Detailee |
| Source: | DOGE aide pops up in EPA staff directory E&E News, 2/04/25 |
| Source: | Inside DOGE’s EPA Team and Its Multimillion-Dollar Mistakes NOTUS, 9/25/25 |
| Note: | Reported as ending in June and left DOGE on 6/27 |
Sighting:
Cole Killian appears in an EPA internal directory as a “Federal Detailee” (under his legal name Gautier Killian).
Sighting:
Cole Killian appears in an EPA internal directory as a “Federal Detailee” (under his legal name Gautier Killian).
| Person: | Cole Killian |
| Source: | DOGE aide pops up in EPA staff directory E&E News, 2/04/25 |
| Agency: | EPA |
2/11/25
Disruption:
Kathryn Armstrong Loving sends the EPA administrator a list of contracts that DOGE wants to eliminate and she includes Cole Killian on her message.
Disruption:
Kathryn Armstrong Loving sends the EPA administrator a list of contracts that DOGE wants to eliminate and she includes Cole Killian on her message.
| Person: | Cole Killian, Kathryn Armstrong Loving |
| Source: | Legal docs show DOGE at work inside EPA E&E News, 4/24/25 |
| Agency: | EPA |
| DOGE Project: | Spending |
2/12/25
:
:
| System Access: | EAS: EPA Acquisition System |
| : | read, 2/12/25-6/XX/25 Cole Killian |
| Note: | System used at the EPA to initiate, award, modify and track acquisition actions. |
| DOGE Project: | Spending |
2/13/25
System Access:
DOGE staffers granted authorization to use a SQL client for databases file transfer software at Department of Labor, alarming cybersecurity staff that it could be used to remove data. The staffers named are Sam Beyda, Derek Geissler, Cole Killian, Adam Ramada and Jordan Wick.
System Access:
DOGE staffers granted authorization to use a SQL client for databases file transfer software at Department of Labor, alarming cybersecurity staff that it could be used to remove data. The staffers named are Sam Beyda, Derek Geissler, Cole Killian, Adam Ramada and Jordan Wick.
| Person: | Adam Ramada, Cole Killian, Derek Geissler, Jordan Wick, Sam Beyda |
| Source: | DOGE software approval alarms Labor Department employees NBC News, 2/13/25 |
| Agency: | DOL |
| DOGE Project: | Impunity |
c.2/13/25
Detailed To:
Detailed To:
| DOGE Detailed To: DOL Cole Killian c.2/13/25 | |
| Source: | DOGE software approval alarms Labor Department employees NBC News, 2/13/25 |
2/18/25
Detailed To:
Detailed To:
| DOGE Detailed To: SSA Cole Killian 2/18/25 | |
| Source: | Onboarding documentation at SSA for "Employee 5" Document Cloud, 4/09/25 |
| Note: | limited onboarding docs, court docs about them |
Onboarding:
Multiple unidentified DOGE staffers start working at SSA on the same day. SSA-02 (Scott Coulter) is detailed from NASA. SSA-07 (Marko Elez) is detailed from the DOL. SSA-10 (Ethan Shaotran) arrives from the GSA, and SSA-05 (Cole Killian) is detailed from DOGE itself.
Onboarding:
Multiple unidentified DOGE staffers start working at SSA on the same day. SSA-02 (Scott Coulter) is detailed from NASA. SSA-07 (Marko Elez) is detailed from the DOL. SSA-10 (Ethan Shaotran) arrives from the GSA, and SSA-05 (Cole Killian) is detailed from DOGE itself.
| Person: | Cole Killian, Ethan Shaotran, Marko Elez, Scott Coulter |
| Source: | American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO v. SSA, doc 121-5 Court Document, 4/09/25 |
| Agency: | SSA |
2/20/25
Identification:
Several DOGE staffers working at the agency are identified by Social Security Works (a nonprofit advocacy group).
Identification:
Several DOGE staffers working at the agency are identified by Social Security Works (a nonprofit advocacy group).
| Person: | Cole Killian, Ethan Shaotran, Leland Dudek, Marko Elez, Nikhil Rajpal |
| Source: | The curious case of Leland Dudek The Handbasket, 2/20/25 |
| Agency: | SSA |
2/28/25
Official Action:
Via email, SSA-05 (Cole Killian) at the DOGE team at SSA requests and receives approval from Leland Dudek to run a program to identify unrealistically old people in the SSA database. Scott Coulter is cc’ed on the approval.
Official Action:
Via email, SSA-05 (Cole Killian) at the DOGE team at SSA requests and receives approval from Leland Dudek to run a program to identify unrealistically old people in the SSA database. Scott Coulter is cc’ed on the approval.
| Person: | Cole Killian, Leland Dudek, Scott Coulter |
| Source: | American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO v. SSA, doc 121-3 Court Document, 4/09/25 |
| Agency: | SSA |
| DOGE Project: | Fraud |
3/12/25
:
:
| System Access: | IRON: IRON Website |
| : | unknown, 3/12/25 Cole Killian |
| Note: | I have not found any public details about this system. It was named in internal emails from SSA as a way for Cole Killian to investigate people beyound a reasonable age whould could be declared dead. |
| Person: | Akash Bobba, Antonio Gracias, Aram Moghaddassi, Cole Killian, Ethan Shaotran, Jon Koval, Marko Elez, Nikhil Rajpal, Payton Rehling, Scott Coulter |
| Source: | AFL-CIO v. DOL, doc 53-1 Court Document, 3/13/25 |
| Agency: | SSA |
3/13/25
Identification:
Wired reports that 10 DOGE staffers are currently visible in the Microsoft Teams directory of all employees at SSA
Identification:
Wired reports that 10 DOGE staffers are currently visible in the Microsoft Teams directory of all employees at SSA
| Person: | Akash Bobba, Antonio Gracias, Cole Killian, Ethan Shaotran, Jon Koval, Luke Farritor, Marko Elez, Nikhil Rajpal, Payton Rehling, Scott Coulter |
| Source: | These Are the 10 DOGE Operatives Inside the Social Security Administration Wired Magazine, 3/13/25 |
| Agency: | SSA |
3/14/25
System Access:
Leland Dudek grants approval for SSA-05 (Cole Killian) to run the proposed tool for modifying the death data records to eliminate implausibly old people. DOGE was convinced these data errors were a massive source of fraud, despite evidence to the contrary from SSA staff and concerns that correcting the data would be a waste of time.
System Access:
Leland Dudek grants approval for SSA-05 (Cole Killian) to run the proposed tool for modifying the death data records to eliminate implausibly old people. DOGE was convinced these data errors were a massive source of fraud, despite evidence to the contrary from SSA staff and concerns that correcting the data would be a waste of time.
| Person: | Cole Killian |
| Source: | American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO v. SSA, doc 121-3 Court Document, 4/09/25 |
| Agency: | SSA |
| DOGE Project: | Fraud |
3/27/25
System Access:
In a sworn declaration, Leland Dudek justifies access to PII in SSA records for SSA-01 (Akash Bobba), SSA-05 (Cole Killian), SSA-08 (Nikhil Rajpal) and SSA-09 (Payton Rehling) on the DOGE team. This access is granted through the SSA’s Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) system. He asserts that DOGE staff are being granted only the minimum levels of schema access required.
System Access:
In a sworn declaration, Leland Dudek justifies access to PII in SSA records for SSA-01 (Akash Bobba), SSA-05 (Cole Killian), SSA-08 (Nikhil Rajpal) and SSA-09 (Payton Rehling) on the DOGE team. This access is granted through the SSA’s Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) system. He asserts that DOGE staff are being granted only the minimum levels of schema access required.
| Person: | Akash Bobba, Cole Killian, Leland Dudek, Nikhil Rajpal, Payton Rehling |
| Source: | American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO v. SSA, doc 62-1 Court Document, 3/27/25 |
| Agency: | SSA |
| DOGE Project: | Fraud |
6/27/25
Offboarding:
Offboarding:
| Appointed: | Cole Killian 1/20/25-6/27/25 |
| Source: | The Authors Guild/American Council of Learned Societies v. National Endowment for the Humanities, doc 122-2 Court Document, 2/17/26 |
| Source: | Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’ Wired Magazine, 3/13/25 |
| Note: | reported as interviewing USDS staff about jobs, not found in GSA or OPM lists |
6/27/25?
Offboarding:
Offboarding:
| DOGE Detailed To: EPA Cole Killian 2/04/25-6/27/25? | |
| Position Title: | Federal Detailee |
| Source: | DOGE aide pops up in EPA staff directory E&E News, 2/04/25 |
| Source: | Inside DOGE’s EPA Team and Its Multimillion-Dollar Mistakes NOTUS, 9/25/25 |
| Note: | Reported as ending in June and left DOGE on 6/27 |
6/XX/25
Access Revoked:
Access Revoked:
| System Access: | EAS: EPA Acquisition System |
| : | read, 2/12/25-6/XX/25 Cole Killian |
| Note: | System used at the EPA to initiate, award, modify and track acquisition actions. |
| DOGE Project: | Spending |