Nate Cavanaugh
Exited govt: 8/06/25 (reported)
A former tech entrepeneur, Nate Cavanaugh was initially spotted as one of the DOGE staffers interviewing GSA federal staff to determine layoffs. Since March however, he has been the de facto leader of DOGE’s sustained attacks against multiple independent agencies such as the NEH or IMLS. These attacks begin with Nate offering IT Modernization assistance from the GSA and then escalate through the White House firing agency leadership and naming Nate (or an associate) as the new acting agency head. Once in power, he quickly places all employees on administrative leave and starts firing staff and cancelling grants. Much like a vampire, if he shows up at the door of your agency, do not let him inside.
Positions
Systems
| System | Notes |
|---|---|
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Microsoft Entra ID
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Source
A centralized identity provider used to support single-sign-on (SSO) and centralize access control for agencies. admin access «inferred because he sent emails from what looks like a global admin account for Entra» |
Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
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1/02/25
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Source
Action
Baris Akis introduces Nate Cavanaugh to Steve Davis, so that he can recruit Nate Cavanaugh to work for DOGE. Vinay Hiremath introduced Mr. Akis to Mr. Cavanagh
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c.1/21/25
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Source
Interagency
Justin Fox reports that connected with him before he started work at DOGE. Besides Armstrong, Justin Fox was also communicating with other DOGE members via Signal both in group chats and individually. This appears to be a violation of government records laws for those other staffers who were already working in the federal government.
(fuzz: Exact date not given, but he testifies that Anthony Armstrong reached out just after inauguration)
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c.1/22/25
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Source
Disruption
Nate Cavanaugh testifies he started working formally for DOGE a few days after the inauguration. He says his first project was a team effort to create an org chart of government agencies. This project evetually became live on the DOGE website. He does not identify who else worked on it.
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c.2/18/25
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Source
Sighting
Frank Schuler is introduced on a video call meeting at the GSA by Nate Cavanaugh.
(fuzz: Exact date is not provided in the article)
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2/20/25
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Source
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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2/21/25
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Source
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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2/21/25
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Source
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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2/21/25
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Source
Access
Nate Cavanaugh and Jacob Altik then demanded immediate access to USADF systems including financial records and payment and human resources systems. They were told they had to go through standard clearance process.
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2/21/25
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Source
Disruption
Once the MOU is signed, DOGE staff reveal their real purpose is to conduct a massive reduction in agency staff and scope and demand they must file a RIF plan by February 24th.
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2/24/25
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Source
Interagency
USIP leadership meets with DOGE staffers James Burnham, Jacob Altik and Nate Cavanaugh to explain the history and legal status of the small independent executive branch agency and why it should not need to respond to DOGE’s demands
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2/24/25
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Source
Report
The DOGE delegation counters to USIP leadership with their belief that minimum statutory size of agency is “a Board of Directors and a president, reports to Congress and the Executive branch, and expenses incident to the Board of Directors” and says they will regroup and return.
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2/28/25
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Source
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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3/04/25
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Source
Disruption
USADF CFO Mathieu Zahui receives an email from Nate Cavanaugh informing him that Peter Marocco would be coming to the office the following day in his declared capacity as Chairman of the Board.
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3/04/25
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Source
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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3/05/25
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Source
Disruption
Nate Cavanaugh sends Ward Brehm an email demanding to know by what authority he is the President/CFO of USADF.
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3/06/25
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Source
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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3/09/25
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Source
Disruption
After receiving inquiries from the DOGE staff, the head of USIP security emailed them information about the private security firm that manages access to the HQ building.
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3/12/25
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Sources
Disruption
Immediately after the removal of the agency’s chair by the Trump administration, DOGE staffers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox contact NEH IT for access to key systems and arrive at the agency.
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3/14/25
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Source
Disruption
DOGE members Kenneth Jackson, Jacob Altik and Nate Cavanaugh show up at USIP building with 2 other people who claim to be FBI agents. They are refused entry. The DOGE delegation attempts to present a document firing the USIP president.
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3/17/25
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Source
Disruption
DOGE members Kenneth Jackson, Jacob Altik and Nate Cavanaugh remove staff and president of the USIP with the help of Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, the FBI and D.C. police. Kenneth Jackson is named Acting President.
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3/20/25
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Source
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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3/25/25
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Source
Disruption
The remaining board of the USIP – Marco Rubio and Mike Hegseth – terminate Kenneth Jackson as the acting president of the USIP and appoint Nate Cavanaugh to the position. The resolution also authorizes Nate Cavanaugh to dispose of the building belonging to the USIP.
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3/25/25
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Source
Interagency
Nate Cavanaugh contacts the administrator of the GSA to propose transferring the USIP building to them, arguing that USIP won’t need a building because the statute doesn’t mandate it should have one or the staffing to fill it.
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c.3/30/25
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Source
Disruption
Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox gain access to the system at NEH for approving and administering grants. Justin Fox proceeds to look for grant descriptions containing words like “black,” “LGBTQ,” “Jew,” “Native,” and “immigrant” to eliminate for promoting DEI. He organized grants into a “Craziest Grants” and “Other Bad Grants” list, presumably for DOGE or the administration to use for promotional purposes. He also started asking ChatGPT to answer yes or no if individual grants “relate at all to DEI” and using that to mark grants for deletion without any further review.
(fuzz: date only given as a few days prior to termination)
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3/31/25
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Source
Access
DOGE gains admin access to IMLS systems for monitoring its grants and sending emails. The person is not named, but this is likely Nate Cavanaugh.
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3/31/25
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Source
Disruption
Justin Fox sends a letter to the acting head of the NEH, Michael McDonald, expressing frustration that the agency is not moving quickly enough to terminate grants. In his letter, he writes “We’re getting pressure from the top on this and we’d prefer that you remain on our side but let us know if you’re no longer interested.”
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3/31/25
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Source
Disruption
DOGE runs a process to send out emails cancelling all 900 open awards from IMLS to museums across the country.
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3/31/25
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Source
Disruption
DOGE wrecker Nate Cavanaugh returns to the IMLS and notifies the entire staff of the agency that they are being put on administrative leave up to 90 days effective immediately.
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4/01/25
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Source
Disruption
NEH staff members are informed that DOGE is seeking a 70-80% reduction in staff and a cancellation of any grants made under the Biden administration that were not already fully disbursed.
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4/01/25
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Source
Disruption
In a response to Justin Fox asking about cuts, NEH Chairman Michael McDonald advocates for not cutting some proposed grants, but notes: “But you have also told us that in addition to canceling projects because they may promote DEI ideology, the DOGE Team also wishes to cancel funding to assist deficit reduction. Either way, as you’ve made clear, it’s your decision on whether to discontinue funding any of the projects on this list.”
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4/02/25
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Source
Disruption
Approximately 1500 grantees receive grant cancellation emails sent from a nonstandard email address and bypassing the normal grant review process. The domain for the email address Grant_Notifications@nehemail.onmicrosoft.com suggests it was sent from a global admin account for Microsoft Entra, an access-control system used at the agency. The Acting Director of the NEH seems unaware of the messages. The content of the message cites an incorrect executive order as its justification, suggesting it was copied from an earlier email that was sent to IAF and USADF grantees after their DOGE takeover.
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4/03/25
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Source
Disruption
145 NEH staff members (approximately 80% of workforce) are abruptly placed on administrative leave and locked out of system access. The remaining employees are pressured by Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox to formally conduct a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) as quickly as possible
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4/04/25
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Source
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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c.4/07/25
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Source
Sighting
Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox begin holding a series of meetings with MCC leadership. Following the DOGE pattern for small independent agencies, this process eventually culminates in termination of all grants and mass layoffs.
(fuzz: exact date not given, just in “last two weeks”)
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4/08/25
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Source
Directory
A partial copy of the GSA’s A-Suite access list includes multiple DOGE personnel who are listed as based in GSA.
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4/16/25
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Source
Sighting
Justin Fox and Nate Cavanaugh are reportedly detailed from the GSA to work at the NLRB over the next few months.
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4/17/25
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Source
Disruption
According to a sworn declaration by an employee of MBDA, Nate Cavanaugh sends emails terminating MBDA grants under the authority of Keith Sonderling, who is the acting undersecretary of the MBDA
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4/22/25
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Source
Report
Staff at the Millennium Challenge Corporation are informed that DOGE has directed the termination of all grants and the reduction of the staff from 320 to a few dozen.
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4/28/25
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Source
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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4/29/25
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Source
Interagency
Nate Cavanaugh sends an email to the two remaining members of the CPB board requesting a meeting. He describes a DOGE team at GSA and cc’s several other members of DOGE
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4/30/25
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Source
Oversight
Democratic members of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation send a letter to Keith Sonderling requesting details on his appointment as acting undersecretary of the MBDA and other information about DOGE’s takeover and destruction of the agency.
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5/01/25
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Source
Disruption
Appearing on an interview with DOGE by Fox host Jesse Watters in his capacity as USIP President, Nate Cavanaugh repeats the claim that USIP was directly funding the Taliban through its grant to Mohammad Halimi. He makes similar distorted claims about other USIP spending.
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5/13/25
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Source
Sighting
Justin Fox emails GAO (cc’ing Nate Cavanaugh) to schedule a call to get a DOGE team assigned to the GAO. This is despite the GAO being located in the legislative branch and thus not answerable to the President.
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5/13/25
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Source
Directory
In an overview of how DOGE has tried to assign teams outside of the executive branch, NPR lists six DOGE staffers at GSA who are involved with those efforts.
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5/14/25
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Source
Sighting
Nate Cavanaugh and Donald Park reportedly are assigned email addresses and reserved office space at the Export-Import Bank of the US.
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5/16/25
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Source
Sighting
Staff at the MSPB receive an email informing them that Nate Cavanaugh will be onboarded on May 21 as a detailee “from DOGE” and that he is expected to spend several weeks reviewing contracts and spending. He will be working remotely.
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5/19/25
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Source
Legal
The judge presiding over the USIP’s lawsuit against the Trump administration rules that the firing of the agency’s board was illegal, rendering all subsequent actions taken by Nate Cavanaugh as President null and void.
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6/27/25
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Source
Legal
A federal appeals court issues a stay on a lower-court ruling that blocked DOGE from taking over the USIP. In their ruling, the appeals panel noted that President Trump would face “irreparable harm from not being able to fully exercise his executive powers,” should the injunction be allowed to stand. This restores Nate Cavanaugh as President of the USIP.
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7/12/25
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Disruption
Almost all USIP staff receive an email on Saturday telling them they are terminated effective immediately.
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7/21/25
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Source
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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1/23/26
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Source
Legal
Nate Cavanaugh testifies in a deposition related to American Council of Learned Societies v. NEH
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2/13/26
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Source
Legal
Ruling in American Council of Learned Societies/Authors Guild v. NEH, Judge Colleen McMahon rejects an argument by the government that a spreadsheet listing all of the DOGE staff and their positions and detailing arrangement must remain sealed for their personal safety. She orders them and a series of text messages made by DOGE staffers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox must be entered into the record by February 17th.
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