Jeremy Lewin

Jeremy Lewin
Director of Policy Planning
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 24, 2026
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byDaniel Holler (acting)
Under Secretary of State for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs and Religious Freedom
Acting
In office
July 11, 2025 – August 28, 2026
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byAlbert Gombis (acting)
Succeeded byAndrew Veprek (acting)
Personal details
Born1996 or 1997 (age 29–30)
EducationDartmouth College (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Jeremy P. Lewin (born 1996/1997) is an American bureaucrat, political appointee, and former investment banker who is serving as Director of Policy Planning for the US Department of State since August 2026. He had served acting under secretary of state for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom. He has been affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency.

Early life and education

Lewin attended Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, a private school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduating in 2015. He later received his BA from Dartmouth College and a JD from Harvard Law School. He was a member of the Federalist Society at Harvard.

Career

After his law school graduation, he was a law clerk for Judge Judith W. Rogers of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 2024, he joined Munger, Tolles & Olson as a trial lawyer.

Lewin joined the second Trump administration as a member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), appointed deputy administrator for policy and programs for USAID, and helped oversee the agency's dismantling. Lewin authored memos detailing the decommissioning of the agency, including one titled "USAID's Final Mission"; shortly after, remaining staff were fired.

In October 2026, Wired published an investigation into Lewin's work at USAID, reporting that Lewin was never onboarded by the Human Resources team at USAID and that there were no records of his employment there. Internal USAID emails revealed that during the three-week period of March 18 to April 4, Lewin began canceling aid programs and personally signed off on the termination of thousands of USAID employees. However, he did not sign the paperwork typically required by law to begin work at the agency, despite repeated requests. USAID security was unable to issue him an ID card because they had no records of his employment. A July 2025 study in The Lancet reported that Lewin’s DOGE cuts would potentially cause millions of deaths by 2030, mostly children.

In June 2025, Lewin waived nine mandatory anti-fraud and counterterrorism safeguards in an effort to expedite a $30 million award to the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

In late June 2026, news media outlets reported that Lewin would leave the State Department for the White House, to become deputy assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council. A few days later, on July 2, 2026, Politico reported that the planned move "was delayed," following a campaign against Lewin by far-right political activist Laura Loomer, and that he would remain at State instead.

Controversy

In April 2025, Rolling Stone published an investigation based on interviews with at least ten people who knew Lewin, including a woman who had made a police complaint alleging Lewin threatened her with a knife and others who alleged that Lewin had assaulted a private school classmate and made racist remarks.

References

  1. ↑ April 2025, Elissa Miolene//16 (April 16, 2025). "DOGE staffer takes over at the State Department's office of foreign aid". Devex.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 Raskin, Molly Knight (October 27, 2026). "A 28-Year-Old DOGE Operative Gutted USAID. HR Had No Record of Him Working There". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Opinion: The DOGE Alum Asking if Foreign Aid Is America's Problem". July 31, 2025. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 "Jeremy P. Lewin". United States Department of State. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  5. ↑ "The People Carrying Out Musk's Plans at DOGE". The New York Times. February 27, 2025. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  6. ↑ Knibbs, Kate. "Some DOGE Staffers Are Drawing Six-Figure Government Salaries". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Hilton, Jodi (April 1, 2025). "BB&N students surprised to discover classmate worked for Doge before appointment at USAid". Cambridge Day. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  8. ↑ Sweet, Jacqueline (February 11, 2025). "New DOGE staffer appears to be young lawyer with surprising bio". The Handbasket. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Beaumont, Peter (April 1, 2025). "Doge employee allegedly has history of misogyny, racism and violent outbursts". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  10. ↑ Knickmeyer, Ellen; Lee, Matthew (April 15, 2025). "DOGE associate is made acting head of foreign assistance at the State Department, a US official says". AP News. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  11. ↑ "From the Ivy League to working for Elon Musk's DOGE, meet the 28-year-old Mass. native turning the lights out at USAID - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  12. ↑ https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000195-de57-dc25-a3b7-deffc6eb0000
  13. ↑ Cavalcanti, Daniella Medeiros; Sales, Lucas de Oliveira Ferreira de; Silva, Andrea Ferreira da; Basterra, Elisa Landin; Pena, Daiana; Monti, Caterina; Barreix, Gonzalo; Silva, Natanael J.; Vaz, Paula; Saute, Francisco; Fanjul, Gonzalo; Bassat, Quique; Naniche, Denise; Macinko, James; Rasella, Davide (July 19, 2025). "Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis". The Lancet. 406 (10500). Elsevier: 283–294. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01186-9. PMID 40609560 – via www.thelancet.com.
  14. ↑ "Ex-DOGE official rushed grant to GHF despite staff warnings: Report". Al Jazeera. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  15. ↑ Lynch, Colum; Miolene, Elissa (June 29, 2026). "State Department's foreign aid chief heads to the White House". Devex.
  16. ↑ Cai, Sophia (July 2, 2026). "DOGE official's move to Trump's NSC stalls following Loomer campaign". POLITICO. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  17. ↑ Sweet, Jacqueline (April 1, 2025). "Top Trump USAID Staffer Accused of Violent Outbursts, Racist Remarks". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 1, 2025.