Ethan Shaotran
“I dropped out of Harvard and came here to serve my country… most of campus hates me now” is what Ethan Shaotran boasted about his alma mater in a recent TV interview. He dropped out of the school in his senior year to join DOGE, where he was part of the initial wrecking crew formed in GSA. Why would they hate him? For going to the Department of Education to destroy student loan programs under the cover of fighting fraud? For being part of the same organization that has destroyed medical research grants? For joining the DOGE contingents threatening to make major changes within USPS and Social Security? For being part of Nate Cavanaugh’s wreecking crew as they have demolished small independent agencies like the USIP or USADF? Was he really serving his country or greedy people with ulterior motives? Maybe one day he will figure it out.
Positions
| Position | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
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1/20
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appointed (volunteer) Wired | |
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2/12
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[as ED-03] detail (NTE 2026-02-26) | |
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2/18
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[as SSA-10] detail (NTE 2026-02-26) | |
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2/20
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detail (NTE 2026-07-04) | |
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2/28-4/04
removed
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detail «agency contact was earlier, but assuming MOU signed when Marocco seized power» court doc | |
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3/12
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detail (NTE 2025-06-15) | |
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4/10
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converted to permanent position Senior Advisor (GS-14, $142,488 - $185,234) «Salary range for GS-14 in DC» Wired | |
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4/28
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likely detailed Politico |
Events
| Agency | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
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1/20
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1/31
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2/08
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Access:
NBC News reports that Akash Bobba and Ethan Shaotran have admin access to email at the Department of Education and had also accessed the backend admin for the agency website.
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2/18
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Onboard:
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.
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2/20
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Directory:
Several DOGE staffers working at the agency are identified by Social Security Works (a nonprofit advocacy group).
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2/20
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Sighting:
IAF President Sara Aviel learns that DOGE will be visiting her agency. That afternoon, she meets Nate Cavanaugh and Ethan Shaotran who both introduce themselves as GSA employees. They showed little interest in a discussion on efficiency initiatives at the agency and stated they just wanted access to systems.
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2/21
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Sighting:
Ethan Shaotran, Jacob Altik, and Nate Cavanaugh arrive at the agency and demand that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) must be signed for their detail assignment.
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2/21
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Interagency:
Ethan Shaotran and Nate Cavanaugh return to the IAF with Jacob Altik, who presented himself as representing the EOP. Altik confirms that DOGE plans to reduce IAF to what he considers the statutory minimum (a board and president, a location in DC, some grants) and DOGE will be conducting a Reduction in Force of all employees and terminating all grants. The demand approval from the board and threaten the board will be fired otherwise.
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2/21
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2/27
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Disruption:
Ethan Shaotran contacts Leland Dudek to inform him that DOGE had identified roughly 3 dozen federal contracts in Maine as “nonessential” and that “we should cancel them” as retribution for the Maine governor publicly countering abuse from the President over transgender athletes. Two of those contracts are for Social Security services in the State.
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2/28
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Disruption:
Peter Marocco convenes an emergency board meeting (where the emergency is that Trump issued an executive order), asserting that means he can avoid the mandatory 1-week notification to the board of the agency. In attendance at the meeting are Ethan Shaotran and Nate Cavanaugh. This is where he declares himself the new President and Acting CIO of the IAF.
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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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Disruption:
Jacob Altik and Ethan Shaotran are rebuffed by agency leadership when attempting to enter the agency headquarters.
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3/06
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Disruption:
DOGE staff Jacob Altik and Ethan Shaotran return to the agency joined by Nate Cavanaugh and US marshals to force their way into the agency.
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3/12
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Directory:
In a sworn declaration, Florence Felix-Lawson notes “the SSA DOGE Team currently consists of ten SSA employees: four SSA special government employees (Employees 1, 4, 6, and 9) and six detailees to SSA from other government agencies and offices (Employees 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10)”
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3/13
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Directory:
Wired reports that 10 DOGE staffers are currently visible in the Microsoft Teams directory of all employees at SSA
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3/24
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Sighting:
Acting Postmaster General Doug Tulino met with the DOGE team embedded there (Ethan Shaotran and Alexander Simonpour), reportedly to discuss ethics rules.
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4/XX
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Sighting:
Ethan Shaotran and Alexander Simonpour meet again with the acting Postmaster General as well as other senior staff. Reportedly, the topic of this meeting is potential price increases, which is outside the limitations on their work that had been set by former Postmaster DeJoy in the Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) he signed for their presence at the agency.
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4/04
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Legal:
Sara Aviel discovers that a team@iaf.gov created for the use of Ethan Shaotran and Nate Cavanaugh had deactivated the admin access for the remaining IAF employee the day before Aviel’s return by orders of a court as President of the agency.
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4/10
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Report:
Ethan Shaotran is converted to a regular position at the GSA at the GS-14 level, which would mean an annual salary of $142,488 - $185,234 in Washington, DC. This is a relatively senior position for any government worker that would not normally be granted to someone with his limited work experience.
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4/28
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Sighting:
A team of 4 DOGE personnel – Nate Cavanaugh, Jonathan Mendelson, Ethan Shaotran and Marshall Wood – arrive at the headquarters of the US International Development Finance Corporation
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5/XX
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5/23
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Disruption:
Ethan Shaotran sends a Survey of Surveys email to federal agencies asking them to report information on data-collection surveys. This is redundant to the existing survey oversight already conducted by OMB, and there are concerns about what the data will be used for.
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7/21
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Directory:
Multiple DOGE staff are listed in the invite for a new meeting for political appointees at the agency which will be held once every two weeks.
(fuzz: Jeremy Lewin is a Deputy Undersecretary at State, but still a GSA employee?)
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