Friday, February 07, 2025

TRUMP ADMIN UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACK TO GOVERNMENT REFORM: A Person Known online as "Big Balls" is working as part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone... | doge | TikTok

Elon Musk said on social media in response to Coristine being identified:

"Can't believe they doxxed another DOGE team member …"

Why It Matters
Coristine's recruitment to Musk's team, which was commissioned by President Donald Trump to recommend ways to cut down on government spending, symbolizes the new administration's unconventional approach to government reform.

What To Know
Previously, it was reported that DOGE staff had received equivalent training and security clearance to federal employees who work with sensitive information. However, The White House has not confirmed if Coristine has received these clearances.

Coristine, a high school graduate with a history of launching startups, has founded at least five companies across multiple jurisdictions, including Connecticut, Delaware, and the United Kingdom.

However, many of these ventures were absent from his now-deleted LinkedIn profile.

In 2022, he worked briefly for Path Network, a network monitoring company known for hiring former hackers, according to Wired.
That same year, an individual using a Telegram alias linked to Coristine reportedly sought out a cyberattack-for-hire service.

One of Coristine's ventures, Tesla.Sexy LLC, registered when he was just 16, manages dozens of web domains, including Russian-registered sites.

One of these, still operational, offers Helfie, an AI-powered Discord bot operating in Russia, which could present security clearance challenges, per Wired.

Coristine worked at Neuralink, another Musk-run enterprise, before joining DOGE, where he has reportedly participated in meetings reviewing government personnel and code.

DOGE, which was mandated by the election result, has already been responsible for some of the biggest changes to the U.S. government in years, calling for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to be dismantled and its services moved to the State Department. It claims to have saved $1 billion a day in spending based on budget cuts alone.