Justin Fulcher

Coder, age 32

Exited govt: 7/20/25 (verified)

Justin Fulcher is a programmer and entrepeneur, whose last project was a telehealth startup called RingMD (although there are some questions about its success and his life story). Justin started his work for DOGE as an employee working within the VA and keeping a low profile. More recently, he has moved over to the Department of Defense, where he is a Special Advisor in Pete Hegseth’s office.

Positions

Position	Notes
VA	Source Elon Musk Aide Is Now Working at VA and Accessing Its Computer Systems Military News, 2025-02-05 VA c.2/04/25 «reported in early Feb but named later»
DOD	Sources A Top Pentagon DOGE Official Looks Like A Successful Founder. His Story Doesn’t Always Add Up. Forbes Magazine, 2025-03-04 Hegseth Taps DOGE Staffer as Senior Adviser After Staff Exodus Bloomberg Tax, 2025-04-25 Another Top Aide to Hegseth Leaves the Pentagon The New York Times, 2025-07-20 VA? DOD 3/04/25-4/24/25 likely detailed «no info, but assuming detailed from VA» DOD 4/25/25-7/20/25 Senior Advisor resigned from agency 7/20/25

Position

Notes

VA c.2/04/25 «reported in early Feb but named later»

DOD

VA? DOD 3/04/25-4/24/25 likely detailed «no info, but assuming detailed from VA»

DOD 4/25/25-7/20/25 Senior Advisor

resigned from agency 7/20/25

Events

Date	Event
2/04/25 VA	Source Elon Musk Aide Is Now Working at VA and Accessing Its Computer Systems Military News, 2025-02-05 Access A representative from DOGE was given access to contracting systems as well as information on VA operations and information technology systems. (fuzz: not named, but likely Justin Fulcher)
2/14/25 VA	Source Musk’s Top DOGE Staffer at VA Worked Quietly Before Its Layoffs Mint, 2025-02-14 Directory Bloomberg publishes some background information on Justin Fulcher, the DOGE staffer working quietly at the VA, which questions the details of his backstory. Justin Fulcher
3/04/25 DOD	Source A Top Pentagon DOGE Official Looks Like A Successful Founder. His Story Doesn’t Always Add Up. Forbes Magazine, 2025-03-04 Onboard A Forbes article identifies Justin Fulcher as one of the DOGE staffers in the Pentagon and questions the veracity of his entrepeneurial background.
3/25/25 VA	Source Inside DOGE’s AI Push at the Department of Veterans Affairs Wired Magazine, 2025-04-04 Directory Tech staffers and contractors noticed a new DOGE staffer, Sahil Lavingia, was pushing code to a repo in the VA’s Github instance. He also appeared to be using an AI tool to write code. This later turns out to be code that is reviewing contracts to be terminated. Cary Volpert, Christopher Roussos, Jon Koval, Justin Fulcher, Payton Rehling, Sahil Lavingia
4/15/25 DOD	Source Hegseth aide upended Pentagon leak inquiry with false wiretap claims The Guardian, 2025-06-09 Disruption Claiming that he knew of warrantless wiretapping from the NSA, Justin Fulcher pressured Defense Secretary Hegseth’s Chief of Staff and personal legal counsel to let him run an investigation into leaking at the Pentagon. Once he was included, it was clear there was no such evidence, but it had led to several key roles being fired. Justin Fulcher denied this account when reached for comment.
6/25/25 VA	Source House Democrat demands VA disclose any spyware, AI installed on agency computers as part of DOGE initiative Stars and Stripes, 2025-06-27 Oversight Democratic Congressman Mark Takano sends an angry letter to Secretary Collins of the VA demanding answers about DOGE activities including if they have installed spyware on agency machines, if they have been piloting AI, and if they have accessed medical records. He also asks for detailed information on DOGE staff at the agency.
7/20/25 DOD	Source Another Top Aide to Hegseth Leaves the Pentagon The New York Times, 2025-07-20 Offboard After a rocky few months in the Defense Secretary’s office, Scott Fulcher resigns from his position. He claims he always intended to only spend six months in government.