Six baby-faced men with little-to-no government experience have been handpicked by Elon Musk to help him dismantle America’s foreign aid agency.
The billionaire Tesla founder was appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency after months of campaigning with President Donald Trump during the election.
Now, Musk has taken over and enlisted a troupe of men aged 19-25 – three of whom are believed to still be in college – to fill high-powered engineering roles and cut costs.
At just 19, Edward Coristine is the youngest of the fresh-faced bunch taking on corporate America and longstanding government institutions.
According to WIRED, he’s been dubbed an ‘expert’ in his field, and specifics about his role aren’t yet clear.
Akash Bobba, 21, Ethan Shaotran, 22, and Luke Farritor, 23, along with Coristine, have reportedly been granted A-suite level clearance for their work, meaning they can work out of the agency’s top floor with access to all physical spaces and IT systems.
Musk’s DOGE has been rapidly growing in power and expanding its remit, most recently securing clearance to access to restricted parts of the General Services Administration buildings and IT systems.
These systems store sensitive data including social security numbers, addresses and contact information.
The billionaire Tesla founder was appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency after months of loyalty to President Donald Trump during his election campaign
The oldest of the bunch is 25-year-old Berkeley graduate Gavin Kliger, who while not identified as having top level clearance has already proven he wields significant power.
Finally, Gautier Cole Killian has been named for his role with DOGE, which is reportedly on a ‘volunteer’ basis at this stage.
After widespread criticism about the men’s youth, Musk released a statement about the appointments.
‘Time to confess: Media reports saying that DOGE has some of world’s best software engineers are in fact true,’ he wrote on X.
Gavin Kliger, 25
Kliger was named by the New York Times as the account holder behind a controversial company-wide email sent to employees at USAid.
The Berkeley graduate reportedly instructed all employees at the agency not to return to Washington headquarters on Monday.
Meanwhile, up to 600 staff began reporting they were being locked out of their work computer systems.
The reports were similar to those experienced by Twitter employees during Musk’s takeover and the transition to X.
Kliger has since published a Substack article – which subscribers can read for $12 per month – titled: ‘Why DOGE. Why I gave up a seven-figure salary to save America.’
Matt Hopson, who Trump appointed as the new chief of staff at USAid, reportedly resigned after the incident. Trump has ordered a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance.
Trump said the department had been ‘run by a bunch of radical lunatics’, insisting he is simply ‘getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision.’
The agency spends about $70billion a year in foreign aid. Projects include HIV/Aids treatments and encouraging women’s health in conflict zones.
The Berkeley graduate reportedly instructed all employees at the agency not to return to Washington headquarters on Monday
Luke Farritor, 23
Luke Farritor has a known link to Musk already, having interned for SpaceX prior to landing his new gig.
Farritor, dropped out of the University of Nebraska in order to begin working for Nat Friedman, the Silicon Valley entrepeneur behind GitHub.
Friedman described Farritor as ‘a national treasure’ after his appointment with DOGE was made public.
He won part of a $700,000 prize in 2024 after using AI technology to help decipher a 2,000 year old document – part of the Vesuvius scrolls from Pompeii – which scientists had been trying, and failing, to solve for centuries.
The charred scroll was believed burnt beyond recognition.
Luke Farritor has a known link to Musk already, having interned for SpaceX prior to landing his new gig
Edward Coristine, 19
The youngest of Musk’s elite squad is just 19 and a student at Northeastern University in Boston.
Coristine reportedly interned at Musk’s Neuralink for three months last summer, after graduating high school.
Little is known about Coristine’s role at DOGE, however he is listed as an ‘expert.’
WIRED cited sources alleging Coristine has been conducting calls with staff in the department and making them ‘go over code they had written and justify their jobs.’
Employees were allegedly confused by his inclusion in the meetings, and later expressed concerns that they were not properly briefed on his identity or role, even during the call.
Coristine’s father, Charles, is the CEO of popcorn empire, LesserEvil. Coristine once worked as a team member for the brand.
Up until recently, Coristine reportedly used a social media handle named ‘@EdwardBigBaller.’
The youngest of Musk’s elite squad is just 19 and a student at Northeastern University in Boston
Akash Bobba, 21
Bobba is another ‘expert’ within the department still studying at the University of California, Berkeley.
According to a former LinkedIn account, which has since been deleted, Bobba was an investment engineering intern at a hedgefund.
He had also previously interned for Meta and Palantir – who was founded by 2016 MAGA donor, Peter Thiel.
Just six years ago, Bobba was the organizer behind the Princeton Junction, New Jersey, local model United Nations. His father is an academic in computer science.
Bobba is another ‘expert’ within the department still studying at the University of California, Berkeley
Ethan Shaotran, 22
Shaortran founded Energize AI – a scheduling assistant for professionals. The startup earned a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023.
The 22-year-old said in September he was a senior at Harvard University, and was reportedly working in the school’s computing lab on autonomous vehicles.
Musk is famously trying to develop self-driving cars at his Tesla headquarters.
Shaortran is part of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and worked as a scuba divemaster in Hawaii over a gap year.
He also has a unique link to Musk, having participated in his xAI ‘hackathon’. He and his team were runner ups after they used xAI’s Grok to create plausible responses from X followers to a hypothetical question.
Shaortran founded Energize AI – a scheduling assistant for professionals. The startup earned a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023
Gautier Cole Killian, 24
Killian was working as an engineer at Jump Trading, which specializes in high-frequency financial trades and algorithms.
Now, he is reportedly working as a ‘volunteer’ with DOGE, although in what capacity remains unclear.
The 24-year-old graduated McGill University.
Killian was working as an engineer at Jump Trading, which specializes in high-frequency financial trades and algorithms
Musk’s DOGE boasts sweeping power
Musk is leading an extraordinary civilian review of the federal government with Trump’s agreement.
‘It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm it in,’ Musk said in a live session on X Spaces early Monday.
‘What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.’
Musk recently hinted he was also the mastermind behind Trump’s decision to purge federal employees by posting a symbolic picture on X harkening back to his infamous Twitter cleanse.
At the time, he sent a letter to staff titled: ‘A Fork in the Road.’ The same title was used in Trump’s recent email proposing generous lay-off packages
Musk later shared on X that he commissioned an artwork of an enormous fork standing in the road, indicating it was all connected.
Musk does not hold elected office, but on Monday was formally appointed a ‘special government employee” by the White House.
