Edward Coristine
An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
Edward Coristine (born December 2005) is an American college student and software engineer appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).[1][2][3]
Early life and education
[edit]Coristine was born in December 2005.[4][5]
According to his LinkedIn résumé, Coristine graduated from Rye Country Day School in 2024, and attends Northeastern University.[6][7][8]
He enrolled at Northeastern University in 2024 as a mechanical engineering and physics major.[9] His expected year of graduation is 2028.[4] School friends describe him as intelligent and driven, with Elon Musk being his hero.[10][11]
Coristine is a registered Republican.[4]
Career
[edit]Coristine has founded a number of startups with companies registered in Connecticut, Delaware, and the United Kingdom. One of the startups offers an artificial intelligence Discord bot for the Russian market.[12] Coristine has a limited liability company named TESLA.SEXY.[13][14]
He briefly worked for cybersecurity firm Path Network.[15] According to internal company chat logs, Coristine was dismissed for allegedly leaking internal documents to a competitor. After his termination, a large collection of internal Path documents and conversations were leaked online.[16] He briefly worked for LesserEvil, a snack company owned by his father Charles Coristine.[6]
Coristine worked briefly at Neuralink before moving to the Department of Government Efficiency.[12] Coristine is among a group of 19 to 24 year olds without prior experience in government appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency.[17][18] Coristine is the youngest member of the group.[19] He works within the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), reporting directly to Amanda Scales, a former xAI employee appointed as OPM chief of staff.[20] OPM records list his role as an "expert". According to Wired, Coristine has sat in on calls using a non-government email address where workers were made to "go over code they had written and justify their jobs."[1][6]
On February 3, 2025, Coristine held a call with federal Small Business Administration staff detailing the level of access wanted by DOGE, including human resources, contract and payment systems.[21] He reportedly signed into the call from a non-government email address.[18] His ability to pass a federal background check has been questioned.[22]
On February 7, 2025, Bloomberg News reported that Coristine had been fired from his internship at cybersecurity firm Path Network in 2022 for allegedly leaking internal company information to a competitor. Following his dismissal, Coristine wrote that he had retained access to Path Network's servers, but claimed he did not exploit it.[23] Path Network confirmed that Coristine had been fired following a security incident.[24]
Coristine used the moniker "bigballs" on LinkedIn and @Edwardbigballer on Twitter, according to The Daily Dot.[7][25]
On February 9, 2025, security journalist Brian Krebs reported that Coristine had previously been active in online communities known as "The Com," a network of Discord and Telegram channels associated with cybercrime activities.[16] According to Krebs' article, The Com members have questioned Coristine's technical abilities, with one member asserting that he is "not a good dev" and he "couldn't print 'hello world' if his life depended on it."[16]
On February 10, 2025, The Washington Post reported Coristine became a senior advisor in the Bureau of Diplomatic Technology of the United States Department of State. The Post also reported that Coristine is a senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and had a position in the United States Agency for International Development.[26][27][28]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Elliott, Vittoria. "The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ Townsend, Chance (February 3, 2025). "Elon Musk's DOGE takeover is reportedly being spearheaded by young college grads". Mashable. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ Leopold, Jason; Cormier, Anthony (February 3, 2025). "Behind DOGE's Standoff at USAID: Desk Searches and Elon Musk Calling". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ a b c Spatz, Emily. "First-year Northeastern student has a role at Musk's DOGE, according to reports". bostonglobe.com. The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ Farrar, Molly. "Harvard senior, Northeastern first-year student reportedly among Musk's DOGE team". boston.com. Boston.com. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ a b c Kelly, Makena. "Government Tech Workers Forced to Defend Projects to Random Elon Musk Bros". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ a b Talbot, Hope (February 3, 2025). "Musk's DOGE employs a 19-year-old who goes by 'Big Balls' on LinkedIn". The Daily Dot. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ "2023 Excellence Magazine by Rye Country Day School - Issuu". issuu.com. October 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ Sharma, Sanjay. "Edward Coristine education and career: How this college kid with a Physics Major ended up in Musk-led DOGE". indiatimes.com. Times of India. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ "This 19-Year-Old Musk Minion Dropped Out of School to Smash the Government". thedailybeast.com. The Daily Beast. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ MacDiarmid, Zoe. "Northeastern student identified as engineer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency". huntnewsnu.com. The Huntington News. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ a b Burman, Theo. "Who is 'Big Balls'? Teen DOGE Engineer Edward Coristine". newsweek.com. Newsweek. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- ^ Fenster, Jordan Nathaniel. "Youngest member of Musk's team at DOGE is from New Canaan, media reports say". stamfordadvocate.com. Stamford Advocate. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ "Elon Musk is the 'idol' of DOGE's youngest staff Edward Coristine who founded 'Tesla.Sexy LLC'". indiatimes.com. Times of India. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ Ferguson, Malcolm. "Musk's DOGE Teen Minion Was Once Fired for Leaking Company Secrets". newrepublic.com. The New Republic. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- ^ a b c Krebs, Brian (February 7, 2025). "Teen on Musk's DOGE Team Graduated from 'The Com'". KrebsOnSecurity. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ "Elon Puts Kid Who Just Graduated From High School in Charge of Disemboweling the US Government". Futurism. January 29, 2025. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ a b Ensor, Josie. "Meet Elon Musk's 'baby-faced assassins' leading Doge takeover". thetimes.com. The Times. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ Lubin, Rhian; Marcus, Josh. "The seven techies barely out of college helping Musk to slash billions from federal government". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ Rogelberg, Sasha. "Top hires in Trump's Office of Personnel Management reportedly include a 21-year-old and a freshly graduated high-schooler". Fortune. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ Barrón-López, Laura (February 3, 2025). "Trump takes steps to shutter USAID and gives Musk unprecedented access to federal systems". PBS News Hour. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ "DOGE Teen Owns 'Tesla.Sexy LLC' and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers". wired.com. Wired. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ Leopold, Jason; Murphy, Margi; Alexander, Sophie; Bleiberg, Jake; Cormier, Anthony (January 7, 2025). "Musk's DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets". Bloomberg News. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- ^ Fenster, Jordan Nathaniel; Eaton, Joshua. "New Canaan teen on Musk's DOGE team was fired by cybersecurity firm, report says". ctinsider.com. CT Insider. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ Henderson, Cameron (February 3, 2025). "Musk signs up university-aged team to dismantle foreign aid". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ Siddiqui, Faiz; Hudson, John; Stanley-Becker, Isaac (February 10, 2025). "19-year-old Musk surrogate takes on roles at State Department and DHS". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 10, 2025.
- ^ Dodds, Io. "Elon Musk's teenage high school grad staffer known as 'Big Balls' now State Department adviser: Report". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
- ^ Ropek, Lucas. "I Regret to Inform You That a 19-Year-Old DOGE Stooge Named 'Big Balls' Is Now Advising the State Department". gizmodo.com. Gizmodo. Retrieved February 11, 2025.