DOGE Track

Michael Cole

Executive
Exited govt: 8/XX/25 (self-reported)

Positions

Position Notes
USDA
sources
USDA 2/09/25-3/17/25 Senior Advisor on Government Efficiency ES, $170,000 «LinkedIn profile reports August departure»
USDA 3/17/25-8/XX/25 promoted to Senior Team Leader on Government Efficiency ES, $170,000 «Converted to SES non-career»
resigned from agency 8/XX/25

Systems

System Notes
NFC
source
National Finance Center Mainframe c.2/09/25
The National Finance Center is a shared-service provider operated by the USDA that handles payroll for 590,000+ Federal employees across multiple agencies. FOIA requests suggest that DOGE already had access to the NFC mainframe by mid-March for at least two people.
read access «FOIA confirms had access on 3/12, but assuming earlier following pattern of DOGE at other agencies»
LincPass
source
USDA LincPass Program c.2/09/25
The name of the system used to grant access to USDA facilities and information systems.
read access «FOIA confirms had access on 3/12, but assuming earlier following pattern of DOGE at other agencies»

Events

Date Event
2/06/25
source
A large contingent of DOGE staff from multiple agencies meet at GSA HQ. It is unclear if they are representing their specific agencies or if this is a DOGE all-hands gathering. It is also unclear how many DOGE staffers in GSA are in attendance.
 
2/20/25
source
In emails with USDA staff to identify climate-related terms to look for and cancel in grants, Gavin Kliger also alludes to DOGE developing LLM models that would analyze grant descriptions in response to a USDA staffer suggestion to use AI more.
4/10/25
source
In a response to a FOIA request from American Oversight, the USDA returns a list of known DOGE members at the agency at the time.