A task force dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), associated with Elon Musk, has reportedly been established at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to various sources. A report from WIRED not only highlights the identities of the DOGE members stationed at the NIH but also exposes the sensitive financial systems that at least some of them can access.
Records examined by WIRED indicate that four individuals linked to DOGE possess email addresses associated with the NIH, the primary federal agency responsible for health research in the United States. Internal documents obtained by WIRED reveal that three of these individuals are employed in the segment that oversees NIH’s central electronic business system, which encompasses finance, budgeting, procurement, property management, and grant tracking.
According to government records, the DOGE personnel include Luke Farritor, Rachel Riley, Jeremy Lewin, and Clark Minor. Farritor, a former intern at SpaceX and a current Thiel fellow, also possesses a working email linked to the General Services Administration (GSA). Minor, previously an engineer at Palantir, serves as the chief information officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as previously noted. Lewin is identified as an agency lead at DOGE, according to ProPublica; he also has a GSA email and was mentioned in an affidavit in connection with a lawsuit regarding the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development. Riley collaborates closely with Brad Smith, who was a health care entrepreneur and DOGE leader prior to the inauguration of President Donald Trump, as reported by The New York Times.
Internal documents indicate that Farritor, Riley, and Minor operate under the NIH Business System Department. The NIH Business System (NBS) is identified on the agency’s website as the central electronic business system of the NIH. NBS functions within the NIH’s Office of Management, operating under the Office of the Director, managing the core operations of the NIH including procurement, property management, data consolidation, and financial reporting. One NIH employee, who requested anonymity due to a lack of authorization to comment on behalf of the agency, referred to NBS as “NIH’s wallet.”
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None of the NIH employees connected to DOGE responded to WIRED’s inquiries for commentary, and the NIH also did not reply to WIRED’s request for comment.
The NIH stands as the largest federal supporter of biomedical research and operates as a critical sub-agency within HHS—the government body currently led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Earlier in February, the NIH imposed significant cuts to funding for universities, heavily relying on a report by the Heritage Foundation which criticized the “massive growth in DEI staff at US universities.” With a budget of $48 billion, the NIH has also halted funding applications for $1.5 billion designated for medical research, as reported by NPR.
According to reporting by WIRED, DOGE personnel have effectively assumed control over important government agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management and the GSA. On Saturday, confusion swept through the federal workforce after employees received an email from OPM instructing them to respond with “approximately 5 bullet points detailing what you accomplished last week.”
The executive orders and policies stemming from the Trump administration have caused significant disruption to both domestic and international research efforts. Reductions at USAID are reportedly exacerbating human trafficking issues at fraudulent compounds and complicating food aid distribution. Additionally, cuts at the US Department of Agriculture have obstructed vital agricultural and climate initiatives intended to assist farmers.
