Jeremy Lewin, a 29-year-old policy adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a key figure in Washington’s diplomatic efforts with Venezuela and Cuba, announced on October 27, 2026, that he is leaving the State Department to return to the private sector.
Lewin spent nearly two years managing sensitive diplomatic portfolios inside the State Department.
Lewin Leaves the State Department
Before his tenure at Foggy Bottom, Lewin entered federal service through Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, which aimed to slash government spending and downsize federal agencies. He worked at the Agency for International Development (USAID) before moving over to the State Department to restructure foreign aid programs.
Lewin became the youngest person ever to serve as under secretary and director of policy planning at the State Department at just 29 years old. In that dual capacity, he quickly positioned himself as a trusted executor of the administration’s foreign policy vision under President Donald Trump and Secretary Rubio.
It has been the privilege of a lifetime to work for President Trump and @SecRubio, and I’m eternally grateful for their support in trusting me to execute on their foreign policy vision.
Jeremy Lewin, via Axios
Lewin Directs Talks in Latin America
Lewin spearheaded high-stakes engagements across Latin America during his two years in office. Following the arrest of Nicolás Maduro in January, he led U.S. diplomatic outreach to Venezuela’s new leader, Delcy Rodríguez.
He helped assemble a massive oil deal announced in August. That deal grants the United States access to a fifth of Venezuela’s vast crude reserves, alongside economic revitalization plans and earthquake relief efforts in Caracas.
Lewin directed bilateral talks in Havana with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. That official is the grandson of former Raúl Castro and is known publicly as El Cangrejo
.
He carried out those talks while implementing the administration’s strict sanctions regime against the island nation. His portfolio also extended across the Atlantic. He served on the negotiating team for the Greenland Security Agreement alongside Danish and Greenlandic authorities.
Foreign Policy Shifts to Put Americans First
Lewin maintained that the administration had fundamentally reshaped American diplomacy away from post-Cold War approaches.
Over the last two years, President Trump has put decades of post-Cold War malaise behind us, permanently transforming U.S. foreign policy to put Americans first, keep them safe, and drive peace and shared prosperity across the world. I look forward to supporting the administration for the next two years as a private citizen.
Jeremy Lewin, via Axios
Lewin leaves behind a dismantled aid apparatus, an active oil arrangement in South America, and set negotiating frameworks that continue to dictate Washington’s approach to its hemispheric neighbors.
It has been the privilege of a lifetime to work for President Trump and @SecRubio, and I’m eternally grateful for their support in trusting me to execute on their foreign policy vision.
Jeremy Lewin
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