A 19-year-old DOGE worker and ‘acolyte’ of Elon Musk known online as ‘Big Balls’ has been elevated to a new role at the State Department, eliciting fury from some within the agency. 

‘Big Balls,’ whose real name is Edward Coristine, first made headlines when he was identified as one of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) prodigies working to slash government waste. 

Coristine, along with a gang of other young men aged 25 and below, have been credited with analyzing the data of major federal agencies to streamline workflows, identify wasteful spending, and recommend changes to DOGE leadership.

Now, the Washington Post reports that Coristine has been tapped to become a ‘senior adviser’ at the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Technology. 

This new position is in addition to the 19-year-old’s current roles at DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management. 

The bureau serves as the IT hub for the entire State Department and it maintains the data and communications coming in from U.S. diplomatic outposts around the world.

State Department workers have expressed concern over Coristine getting a job at their agency. 

They cite the sensitive nature of the data held within the department’s IT bureau and a Bloomberg report that exposed how Coristine was fired from an internship over leaking sensitive data to a competitor. 

‘This is dangerous,’ one anonymous U.S. official told the Washington Post of Coristine’s new access. 

An undated photo of Edward Corisitine, 19, found on Reddit. The young man is working for DOGE, the State Department and the Office of Personnel Management 

Musk has posted numerous memes and posts on his app X joking at his DOGE worker’s online persona known as ‘Big Balls’ 

Some U.S. officials shared their concerns over Corisitine’s new job with the Washington Post

The officials who spoke to the outlet shared their worries that the 19-year-old would have access to classified documents. 

They also lamented how Coristine could get compromising materials on other countries and diplomatic activities. 

All of the State Department’s data runs through the office Coristine recently was appointed to, which the Post describes as ‘a treasure trove of information.’ 

‘It’s not like they have a history of informed political opinion,’ an anonymous source who knows Coristine told the outlet. 

‘They’re just in it for solving hard problems: It’s like, ‘Oh, a big challenge, it’s a big puzzle.’ I’m sure he just grew up solving puzzles and doing hard problems, and this is just another one and also has the perk of being around the president and billionaires,’ they revealed. 

Protesters gather outside of the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on February 03, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

The group of federal employees and supporters are protesting against Elon Musk, tech billionaire and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and his aids who have been given access to federal employee personal data and have allegedly locked out career civil servants from the OPM computer systems

The source shared that though the 19-year-old’s technical ability was good his access to such highly coveted material after such a short tenure with DOGE was cause for concern. 

‘It’s not at all appropriate, I don’t think, for something with such a broad impact,’ they shared. 

However, Coristine is not the only ‘DOGE bro’ to be given access to State Department data. 

Luke Farritor, 23, a colleague of Coristine’s who also works at DOGE, was also found in the department’s directory as a IT bureau employee. 

So far there have been at least six engineers aged 25 or younger who have been identified as DOGE workers.