Following Musk’s departure from the government in late June 2025, [Edward “Big Balls”] Coristine floated in and out of SSA before landing at the newly formed National Design Studio, where according to a recent interview with right-wing influencer Nick Shirley, Coristine said he is the engineering lead. Coristine has also apparently continued to help with the Trump administration’s efforts to target “fraud,” and Shirley claimed that Coristine recently helped him identify organizations in California to target for viral videos. Coristine did not respond to a request for comment.
In March, following a request for comment from WIRED, the Department of Defense announced that Kliger had been appointed the agency’s chief data officer. Emails released as part of Anthropic’s lawsuit against the DOD, in response to the Trump administration’s Anthropic ban after the company refused to remove restrictions about how its tools could be used by the military, reveal that Kliger was involved in the agency’s negotiations with the company.
Kliger, who had not yet been announced as the chief data officer, was copied on a March 4 email from Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei regarding a potential agreement between the DOD and Anthropic. Anthropic and Kliger did not respond to a request for comment. In response to questions from WIRED, a senior Pentagon official said, “the Department of War’s DOGE team continues to execute the Secretary’s priorities.” The response did not clarify what specific work the DOGE team was doing or who its members were.
As part of the agency’s dismantling, it was brought under the purview of the State Department, where [Jeremy] Lewin was appointed undersecretary for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs, and religious freedom in July 2025. During his time at State, Lewin was instrumental in approving $30 million in funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the controversial aid group backed by the American and Israeli governments. Lewin also helped implement the $2 billion US contribution to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that would exclude aid to Yemen, Afghanistan, and Gaza. In a New York Times interview in July 2025, Lewin highlighted a move towards drones for certain types of humanitarian assistance. “The best foreign assistance is that which ends,” he said during the interview. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
As of January 2026, [Nate] Cavanaugh and [Justin] Fox are working together on an AI startup called Special, according to their LinkedIn accounts. Special describes itself as “a technology investment platform” focused on crypto investments. Its website includes pictures of both Musk and Argentine president Javier Milei, along with the words “You know it when you see it.” Cavanaugh and Fox did not respond to a request for comment.
After leaving DOGE in August 2025, [Bridget] Youngs founded an Austin-based company called Terminus Industrials, which aims to manufacture large power transformers, a critical component for data centers. In a podcast interview, Youngs described herself as the team “lead” at the [Department of Labor (DOL)] where she said she focused on “automated shipbuilding” using AI, automation, and reskilled labor to speed up the building process. Youngs describes her team at Terminus as composed of “former Tesla and former John Deere” employees. Youngs did not respond to a request for comment.
While working as part of the DOGE team, [John] Solly worked with the SSA’s “Death Master File.” In 2025, thousands of immigrants were being added to the Death Master File dataset that effectively shut down their social security numbers and cut off their ability to get jobs or receive government benefits.
According to a whistleblower complaint, Solly sought help transferring sensitive data, including the personal identifying information of millions of Americans, from SSA on a thumb drive to share with his current employer. According to LinkedIn, Solly was employed by Leidos at this time. Solly denies any wrongdoing, and Leidos says government data was never uploaded to Leidos devices or networks.
[Amanda] Scales left OPM in April 2025, briefly returning to xAI before joining Arsenal Pulse, a talent recruitment firm that counts the Boring Company, also founded by Musk, as one of its clients. According to her LinkedIn, Scales officially returned to OPM in January 2026, and appears to have retained her position as a partner at Arsenal Pulse. In a LinkedIn post, Scales said that she would be helping to recruit people into the newly formed US Tech Force. In response to a request for comment, OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover told WIRED that Scales “is currently contracted by OPM to help with recruitment efforts.”
During the first Trump administration, Ashley Boizelle was the acting general counsel for the Federal Communications Commission. She then went on to work as Amazon’s senior corporate counsel before she joined DOGE in March 2025. From August 2025 until January 2026, Boizelle served as senior counsel to the president.
Earlier this year, she left government to join Hadrian, a manufacturing startup focused on the defense and space industries. In 2025, Hadrian raised $260 million in investments, co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
At the Department of Education, [Adam] Ramada worked with Brooks Morgan, another DOGE member, who had previously founded a startup called Podium Education.
According to LinkedIn, Ramada and Morgan started an Austin-based venture firm, Banner VC, in August 2025. The firm recently invested $50 million in a firm called Mesh Optics. Morgan and Ramada did not respond to a request for comment.
[Tarak] Mackecha, a former Tesla engineer, came to DOGE from the drone company SkySafe. During his time at DOGE, Makecha worked at the Department of Justice, the FBI, the State Department, and the US Agency for Global Media.
In August 2025, Makecha joined Valor Equity Partners, leading its investments in national security technologies, according to his LinkedIn. Valor Equity Partners was founded by billionaire Antonio Gracias, a close associate of Musk and himself a member of DOGE. Makecha did not respond to a request for comment.
For some of DOGE’s most prominent figures, it’s unclear where exactly they’ve ended up[: Aram Moghaddassi, Luke Farritor, Ethan Shaotran, Marko Elez].
Lambert here: It’s hard to imagine they died of shame, so maybe they’re spooks?
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