Edward Coristine
Tech Industry Links: Neuralink
Perhaps the most famous of the DOGE wreckers, Edward “Big Balls” Coristine achieved early attention for joining DOGE at the young age of 19. Previously, he had been a camp counselor and a summer intern at Neuralink, who grew up in wealth and joined up with hacking groups online, before eagerly jumping on to the DOGE bandwagon. However, he has also accrued a large number of hits on his wrecking spree across the federal government, starting at the GSA on Day One and then detailing to OPM and a large number of other agencies within a short amount of time; for instance, he appears to have been DOGE’s vanguard within the Department of Homeland Security. Most recently, he has been linked to a team developing an online application for a $5 Million “Gold Card” Visa that has been promoted by Trump as a new revenue stream for the US.
Likely aliases: OPM-04
Positions
| Position | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
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1/20-5/23
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[as OPM-04] appointed Senior Advisor, Immediate Office of the Administrator (SGE, NTE 2026-01-19, EF-00, excepted, volunteer) «Start date and agency inferred from later reporting» | |
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1/24
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likely detailed «no MOU to confirm and SF-50 is for GSA, but I think he was detailed from GSA to OPM on this date based on appointment affadavit» | |
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1/27
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likely detailed as Senior Advisor, Office of the CIO «Date at USAID reported by NYT» | |
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2/03
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likely detailed as DOGE Advisor «guessing detail date from system access request» | |
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c.2/04
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likely detailed as Senior Advisor «Date unverified, but assuming predates sighting at FEMA» | |
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2/05
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internal xfer | |
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2/10
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detail to Senior Advisor, Bureau of Diplomatic Technology | |
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internal xfer «NYT links him to TSA, but no other info public» | |
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internal xfer | |
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2/19
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internal xfer Senior Advisor | |
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2/20
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detail | |
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3/05
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likely detailed as Executive Engineer «Date verified in court document, assuming detail from GSA» | |
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3/05
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internal xfer «Granted access to CMS systems on same day as detail to HHS» | |
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5/31-6/23
resigned
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converted to permanent position Senior Advisor (GS-15, $167,603 - $195,200) «Salary range for GS-15 in DC» | |
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c.6/23
|
appointed (SGE) |
Systems
| System | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
USA Performance
1/28
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1/28 | USA Performance
System tracking job performance of federal employees (OPM) unknown access «system name is listed as “USA Performance - U.S. Office of Personnel Management”» |
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CAFS
2/03
|
2/03 | Capital Access Financial System
The main portal at the SBA for main portal for processing loan applications and servicing loans. (SBA) read access granted by CIO |
|
NFC Insight
2/03
|
2/03 | National Finance Center Insight
A business intelligence system that is one of the offerings of the National Finance Center, which handles payroll for 650,000 federal employees. (SBA) read access granted by Deputy Director |
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NFC Reports
2/03
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2/03 | National Finance Center Reporting Center
The Reporting Center is a Web-based application page which allows managers, personnel specialists, and other employees of Federal Agencies serviced by NFC to generate Administrative Reports, Financial Reports, and Workforce Reports. (SBA) read access granted by Deputy Director |
|
FEMA-Go
2/07
|
2/07 | FEMA Grants Outcomes
A system for managing grant program for communities affected by disasters (FEMA) read access |
|
Office365
2/20
|
2/20 | Microsoft Office 365
Microsoft Office 365 is used for agency email and knowledge management systems. (CISA) admin access |
|
CALM
3/05
|
3/05 | CMS Acquisition Lifecycle Management System
System for tracking CMS acquisitions, contracts, milestones and audits. (CMS) read access granted by CIO |
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HIGLAS
3/05
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3/05 | Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System
A single, integrated dual-entry accounting system that centralizes accounting for CMS programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. (CMS) read access granted by CIO |
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IDR
3/11
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3/11 | Integrated Data Repository
A data warehouse that receives all Medicare claims after they have been approved for payment (CMS) read access granted by CIO |
Events
| Agency | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
|
1/20
|
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1/27
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Onboard:
Still convinced that USAID is deliberately committing insubordination against the executive order, Peter Marocco arrives at USAID with DOGE staffers Luke Farritor, Edward Coristine and Clayton Cromer to audit USAID’s accounts.
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1/27
|
Access:
Charles Ezell sends an email to OPM IT staff stating that OPM-02 (Riccardo Biasini), OPM-04 (Edward Coristine), and OPM-06 (Nikhil Rajpal) “urgently” need access to several sensitive systems within the agency.
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1/28
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Access:
OPM grants OPM-02 (Riccardo Biasini), OPM-04 (Edward Coristine), and OPM-06 (Nikhil Rajpal) full administrative access to the systems USAJOBS, USA Staffing, USA Performance, eOPF, and EHRI. This access included “[c]ode read and write permissions.”
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1/28
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1/31
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2/03
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Action:
Elias Hernandez, the associate administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development at SBA, emails the director of the National Finance Center (NFC) asking for immediate admin access to the mainframe for “all SBA Personnel Office Identifiers (POIs)”. NFC is a shared service from USDA that handles payroll for roughly 150,000 federal employees across 170 agencies including the SBA.
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2/03
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Access:
Edward Corisitine and Donald Park are granted access to the SBA’s core financial and loan systems within five hours of the CIO authorizing the request.
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2/03
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Action:
After being granted access to the National Finance Center for information about staff at SBA, Edward Coristine writes to an associate administrator and chief human capital officer at SBA to ask for the phone number of the CIO for the National Finance Center at USDA.
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2/03
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Action:
Stephen Kucharski, director of the SBA’s Office of Performance Systems Management, emailed 19 colleagues with an urgent request: “Please help me and my OCIO colleagues as we mobilize to provide Edward Coristine and Donald Park Admin access to all SBA systems. This action has been cleared and we are on a very short time frame.” They were to be granted access to HR and procurement systems. He then follows up with the agency CIO.
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2/03
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Access:
Within three hours of the request, Edward Coristine and Donald Park are granted “admin authority” to the mainframe and read-only access to the NFC Insight and Reporting Center applications. This gives them the ability to see sensitive information like salary, banking information and even debt for employees at the SBA (and possibly other agencies)
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2/03
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Sighting:
Email to SBA staff announces that Edward Coristine and Donald Park were granted access to all systems including HR, contract, and payment systems.
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2/10
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Sighting:
Edward Coristine and Luke Farritor are both listed in the State Department’s directory as Senior Advisors within the Bureau of Diplomatic Technology.
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2/10
|
Sighting:
Edward Coristine appears in an online DHS staff directory with the title of Senior Advisor.
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2/12
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Directory:
In a FOIA request, Democracy Forward names DOGE staff known to be at OPM at that time.
Austin Raynor, Brian Bjelde, Bryanne-Michelle Mlodzianowski, Christina Hanna, Joanna Wischer, Noah Peters, Riccardo Biasini, Stephen Duarte
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2/19
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Access:
Edward Coristine and Kyle Schutt are reportedly given elevated access to CISA systems, including documents and staff emails.
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3/04
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Directory:
Wired reports that some DOGE staff (Kyle Schutt, Nate Cavanaugh) are being paid as full-time GSA employees, but other staff are listed as volunteers for that agency.
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3/05
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Access:
Multiple DOGE staff (Edward Coristine, Marko Elez and Aram Moghaddassi) are granted access to the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System (HIGLAS). This system tracks all payments made by Medicare, among other expenditures.
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3/05
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Access:
A second wave of DOGE members detailed to HHS (Edward Coristine, Marko Elez and Aram Moghaddassi) are granted read access to the CMS Acquisition Lifestye Management System (CALM), which tracks CMS aquisitions and contracts
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3/05
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Directory:
The Intercept receives a list of 30 DOGE staffers working within the Executive Office of the President (EOP), including 4 lawyers previously not listed
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3/13
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Directory:
As later reported in a declaration in AFL-CIO et al. vs. Department of Labor, HHS employee Mark Samburg finds DOGE staff at the agency listed in an online directory as Executive Engineers (and Rachel Riley as a Senior Advisor).
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3/20
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Directory:
Wired Magazine list DOGE staff stationed within GSA, all of whom were listed on GSA payroll on March 20, the same day Stephen Ehikian claimed there were no DOGE staff in the agency.
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3/28
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Access:
USCIS CIO William McElhaney sends a message to DHS Deputy Secretary asking them to review access that was granted to DOGE staffers Kyle Schutt, Edward Coristine, Aram Moghaddassi and Payton Rehling.
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3/29
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3/29
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Legal:
In a legal filing, the DOJ identifies 4 DOGE staffers - Edward Coristine, Marko Elez, Luke Farritor and Amy Gleason - as present at CMS. It omits the names of several other staffers with access to the CALM system.
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3/XX
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Disruption:
Kyle Schutt and Edward Coristine repeatedly pressure staff over the next two months at DHS to use Grok, a chatbot from Elon Musk’s xAI, despite the fact it had not been approved for use in the agency. A DHS spokesperson later denied the allegations.
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4/08
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4/11
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4/16
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Directory:
Three DOGE staffers – Marko Elez, Edward Coristine and Joe Gebbia – are reported to be working with staff from DHS, the State Department and USCIS on implementing an application process for a $5 Million “Gold Card” visa. It is unclear what agencies they are working for and how this partnership has been structured.
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5/16
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Directory:
In a response to a FOIA request made by American Oversight, SBA provides a list of all people who have been identified as communication on agency head Kelly Loefler’s behalf. It includes a number of people known to be DOGE and others with the title Senior Advisor who might also be doge.gov
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5/23
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Disruption:
Reuters reports that DOGE staffers Kyle Schutt and Edward Coristine have attempted to gain access to DHS employee emails in recent months and ordered staff to train AI to identify communications suggesting an employee is not “loyal” to Trump’s political agenda. Given earlier reports, the AI in question is like xAi’s “Grok” AI system.
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5/31
|
Report:
Edward Coristine and Luke Farritor’s roles are both converted into regular positions at the GSA at the GS-15 level, which would mean an annual salary of $167,603 - $195,200 in Washington, DC. This is the maximum level possible for a general government worker, and it often takes years or decades to reach. It would not normally be granted to staff with such limited work experience.
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6/23
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Sighting:
Edward Coristine is reportedly sighted at the Woodlawn, MD location of the Social Security Administration alongside Aram Moghaddassi. It is later confirmed that he is now working as a Special Government Employee (SGE) for the agency after he had resigned his position at GSA.
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6/23
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Offboard:
Less than a month after he was officially hired at GSA, Edward Coristine reportedly resigns his position and is removed from the building directory.
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8/11
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Action:
Expressing concerns that the lax security of DOGE’s cloud could lead to the leak of every American’s social security number (and the requirement ro reissue new ones), the Chief Data Officer of the Social Security Administration contacts Edward Coristine and John Solly to request information about the security of DOGE’s cloud. He is never granted a reply and learns that the SSA Office of General Counsel (headed by DOGE member Mark Steffensen) has advised employees not to respond to his inquiries.
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Open Questions
- Now that Edward Coristine has left the GSA, does that mean that all his detailing agreements have ended? How many of them were still open?