A 28-Year-Old DOGE Operative Gutted USAID. HR Had No Record of Him Working There

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Save this storySave this storyOn March 18, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed the reins of the US Agency for International Development to Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old graduate of Harvard Law School, former investment banker, and affiliate of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. At the time, Lewin’s appointment drew criticism because of his lack of experience in government, diplomacy, or foreign assistance. But for career staff inside the agency, the issues surrounding Lewin’s new role were much more alarming than his thin résumé.

2025年3月18日，国务卿马可·鲁比奥（Marco Rubio）将美国国际开发署（USAID）的领导权交给了杰里米·卢温（Jeremy Lewin）。卢温现年28岁，是哈佛法学院毕业生、前投资银行家，也是埃隆·马斯克所谓的“政府效率部”（DOGE）的成员。当时，卢温的任命因其在政府、外交或对外援助方面缺乏经验而受到批评。但对于该机构内部的职业员工来说，围绕卢温新角色的问题远比他单薄的履历更令人担忧。

For at least two months, USAID senior staff had no knowledge of how Lewin, who appeared at the agency one day as a policymaker on an obscure detail from the General Services Administration, could have suddenly begun wielding the powers of the agency’s top official.

至少在两个月的时间里，美国国际开发署的高级职员们并不清楚卢温是如何突然开始行使该机构最高官员权力的。卢温某天突然出现在该机构，身份是来自总务管理局（GSA）的一名负责模糊细节的政策制定者。

Internal USAID emails reviewed by WIRED reveal that during the three-week period of March 18 to April 4, during which Lewin began canceling lifesaving aid programs and personally signed off on the termination of thousands of USAID employees, he did not sign the paperwork typically required by law to begin work at the agency, despite repeated requests. In fact, his appointment was so mysterious that USAID security was unable to issue him an ID card because they had no records of his employment.

《连线》（WIRED）查阅的美国国际开发署内部邮件显示，在3月18日至4月4日的三周期间，卢温开始取消救命的援助项目，并亲自签署了数千名美国国际开发署员工的解雇令。尽管多次被要求，但他并未签署法律通常要求的入职文件。事实上，他的任命非常神秘，以至于美国国际开发署的安全部门无法为他发放身份证件，因为他们没有任何关于他受雇的记录。

Lewin, currently director of policy planning at the State Department, tells WIRED that prior to Rubio delegating powers to him, he was “both detailed and dual appointed to work at USAID by Secretary Rubio according to well-established authorities and with the advice of State Department and White House counsel.”

目前担任国务院政策规划主任的卢温告诉《连线》，在鲁比奥向他下放权力之前，他“根据既定授权，并在国务院和白宫法律顾问的建议下，被鲁比奥国务卿借调并双重任命到美国国际开发署工作”。

Experts, though, say that while Lewin performed the duties of a top USAID leader under the title Rubio handed to him—deputy administrator of policy and programming and chief operating officer—it isn’t clear that he had the legal authority to do so. Questions about how DOGE affiliates like Lewin stepped into top roles at many federal agencies, including USAID, remain key to dozens of active lawsuits targeting DOGE and the Trump administration over federal workforce reductions, firings, and agency dismantlings.

然而，专家们表示，虽然卢温以鲁比奥授予他的头衔——政策与规划副署长兼首席运营官——履行了美国国际开发署高级领导人的职责，但尚不清楚他是否拥有这样做的法律授权。关于像卢温这样的“政府效率部”成员如何进入包括美国国际开发署在内的许多联邦机构担任高层职务的问题，仍然是针对“政府效率部”和特朗普政府在联邦裁员、解雇和机构拆解方面提起的数十起诉讼的核心。

Lewin has said, in a declaration submitted to the court in J. Doe 4 v. U.S. DOGE Service, that he began serving at USAID as a senior adviser as well as a director for strategy and programs on January 28, 2025. On March 18, according to court filings, Rubio, in his role as USAID’s acting administrator, delegated the authority of the deputy administrator of policy and programming and chief operating officer to Lewin, and also signed a document appointing Lewin an “officer of the United States.”

卢温在提交给“J. Doe 4 诉美国政府效率部”一案法庭的声明中表示，他于2025年1月28日开始在美国国际开发署担任高级顾问以及战略与项目主任。据法庭文件显示，3月18日，鲁比奥以美国国际开发署代理署长的身份，将政策与规划副署长及首席运营官的权力下放给卢温，并签署了一份任命卢温为“美国官员”的文件。

According to the emails reviewed by WIRED, on March 20, two days after Rubio placed Lewin atop the USAID hierarchy, White House liaison to USAID Adam Korzeniewski notified HR to begin the process of onboarding Lewin as a senior adviser performing duties as deputy administrator. Four days later, the emails reveal, after prompting from HR, Korzeniewski provided a proposed start date—March 18—and the next day, Lewin was sent a temporary job offer.

根据《连线》查阅的邮件，3月20日，即鲁比奥将卢温置于美国国际开发署高层两天后，白宫驻美国国际开发署联络官亚当·科泽涅夫斯基（Adam Korzeniewski）通知人力资源部门，开始办理卢温作为履行副署长职责的高级顾问的入职手续。邮件显示，四天后，在人力资源部门的催促下，科泽涅夫斯基提供了拟定的入职日期——3月18日，第二天，卢温收到了一份临时工作录用通知。

By March 26, the emails show, Lewin still hadn’t accepted the job offer, and had not filed his OF-306, the federal government’s standard pre-employment background screening form; without this document, a federal agency cannot lawfully issue a final job offer or consummate an appointment. An HR executive noted in an email dated March 31 that Lewin had not completed the onboarding tasks required to initiate “the security reciprocity process,” which recognizes the transfer of an employees’ security clearance from one agency to another. (A detailing agreement between the GSA and USAID dated February 14—two weeks after Lewin says he began at USAID—specifes that “commencement of the detail is contingent upon the Detailee’s successful adjudication and receipt of any necessary security clearances and other pre-employment screening required by USAID.”)

邮件显示，截至3月26日，卢温仍未接受录用通知，也未提交OF-306表格（联邦政府标准的入职前背景审查表）；没有这份文件，联邦机构无法合法地发出最终录用通知或完成任命。一位人力资源主管在3月31日的邮件中指出，卢温尚未完成启动“安全互认程序”所需的入职任务，该程序旨在承认员工安全许可从一个机构到另一个机构的转移。（总务管理局与美国国际开发署于2月14日签署的一份借调协议——即卢温自称开始在美国国际开发署工作两周后——明确规定：“借调的开始取决于借调人员成功通过裁定并获得美国国际开发署要求的任何必要安全许可及其他入职前审查。”）

On March 28, Lewin signed a letter terminating all remaining USAID staff. And as he executed sweeping powers to liquidate all 60 of USAID’s overseas missions and cancel thousands of lifesaving projects worldwide, HR repeatedly followed up with Korzeniewski.

3月28日，卢温签署了一封解雇所有剩余美国国际开发署员工的信函。在他行使广泛权力清算美国国际开发署全部60个海外代表处并取消全球数千个救命项目时，人力资源部门多次向科泽涅夫斯基跟进此事。

More than a week after Lewin’s appointment, the emails show, a USAID official told Korzeniewski that the agency’s office of security was “unable to issue a USAID ID card to Jeremy Lewin as SEC [the agency’s secure database] did not have a record of Jeremy as an employee.”

邮件显示，在卢温被任命一周多后，一位美国国际开发署官员告诉科泽涅夫斯基，该机构的安全办公室“无法为杰里米·卢温发放美国国际开发署身份证件，因为SEC（该机构的安全数据库）中没有杰里米作为员工的记录”。

“Until you’re onboarded at USAID, you aren’t even in the system,” says Natalia Machuca, a 15-year agency veteran who hired many staff. “You can’t get a badge, get into your computer, or even walk around the building.”

“在你入职美国国际开发署之前，你甚至不在系统里，”在该机构工作了15年并招聘过许多员工的娜塔莉亚·马丘卡（Natalia Machuca）说，“你拿不到证件，进不了电脑，甚至无法在大楼里走动。”

Lewin tells WIRED, “I was a regular government employee with a valid security clearance held by the State Department during this entire period. USAID HR was confused about this paperwork for a period of days, but this issue was cleared up once they were made aware of the dual appointment and my State Department position.”

卢温告诉《连线》：“在此期间，我一直是一名拥有国务院有效安全许可的正式政府雇员。美国国际开发署的人力资源部门对这些文书工作困惑了几天，但一旦他们了解到双重任命和我在国务院的职位，这个问题就解决了。”

But according to a top executive in HR, no one from their office saw any delegation documents until late April 2025. As one longtime HR executive at the agency, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said of Lewin: “He was the equivalent of an administrative ghost.”

但据人力资源部门的一位高管称，直到2025年4月下旬，他们办公室没有人见过任何授权文件。该机构的一位资深人力资源主管在匿名的情况下谈到卢温时说：“他相当于一个行政幽灵。”

“I think this creates a huge accountability problem if you have these actors who are making really consequential life-or-death decisions who didn’t go through any standard confirmation process,” says Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, “or in this case didn’t even complete their paperwork to become a formal employee.”

“我认为，如果这些做出重大生死决策的人员没有经过任何标准的确认程序，就会产生巨大的问责问题，”密歇根大学公共政策教授唐·莫伊尼汉（Don Moynihan）说，“或者在这种情况下，甚至没有完成成为正式员工所需的文书工作。”

Lewin—who a White House official says submitted all the paperwork required for employment and clearance—provided WIRED with two documents, both dated March 18, 2025. One is an appointment and compensation waiver, signed by Rubio, naming Lewin director of strategy and planning, and stating that he would not be paid “pursuant to, among other provisions of

卢温——一位白宫官员称他提交了就业和许可所需的所有文件——向《连线》提供了两份文件，日期均为2025年3月18日。其中一份是由鲁比奥签署的任命和薪酬豁免书，任命卢温为战略与规划主任，并声明他将不会获得报酬，“根据……的其他规定”