Vuk Jeremic, a former Serbian foreign minister, is the most prominent public official involved in a new project, DOGE-UN, tackling the “bureaucratic bloat, waste and inefficiencies.” The founder is Hugh Dugan, who was a diplomat at the United States mission to the United Nations and a former special presidential envoy for hostage affairs in the State Department.

According to several diplomatic sources and other experts, Jeremic may be using DOGE-UN to position himself to run for UN secretary-general, a post that becomes vacant on Jan. 1, 2027, for a five-year term. Through the UN reform agenda being promoted by DOGE-UN, Jeremic, 49, could use the platform to publicize any efforts to rid perceived bureaucratic waste at the UN, modeled after Elon Musk’s DOGE apparatus and the MAGA mind-set. Jeremic ran unsuccessfully for the UN post in 2016, among 13 candidates, losing to the current secretary-general, António Guterres of Portugal.

A representative for Eurasia Group, where Jeremic is a senior adviser, told PassBlue that he is currently too busy to comment on DOGE-UN and whether he is running for secretary-general.

DOGE-UN’s website says its mission is to “transform the UN deep state bureaucracy into a highly efficient and effective support, carrying out the agenda of its Member States under the principles of the UN Charter.” It says it is an “independent, volunteer nonprofit” incorporated in New York State.

The website also quotes US President Donald Trump in 2025, as its inspiration: “I’ve always felt that the U.N. has tremendous potential. It’s not living up to that potential right now. They’ve got to get their act together.”

Jeremic posted on X regarding DOGE-UN recently: “The current model of global governance is outdated, inefficient, and disconnected from the needs of its founders, the Member States. Institutions like the UN, the IMF, and the WHO have accumulated excessive bureaucratic weight, lost touch with their core missions, and developed a false sense of self-righteous autonomy in policymaking.

A fundamental reset is urgently needed — one that prioritizes efficiency, transparency, and accountability while cutting unnecessary bureaucracy. Just as @elonmusk is pushing for radical efficiency and modernization in U.S. governance through @DOGE, a similar approach is required at the international level. This is the mission of @DOGEUN2025. Join us!”

Dugan told PassBlue in a phone call on March 20 that DOGE-UN is a “research program organization” that will convey “our thoughts” on UN reform. He confirmed that DOGE-UN is not a government affiliate and that Musk is not participating in the operations. Yet, the enterprise fits into the UN reform agenda that Elise Stefanik, the US ambassador-designate, discussed in her Senate hearing.

The calls to reform the UN are hardly novel. The organization recently announced a UN80 initiative to find ways to reduce expenses through downsizing and other structural changes. Dugan called the plan “far too little too late,” adding that the UN’s 193 member states need to be “more attentive stakeholders” regarding UN operations and not place the burden on the secretary-general, which he called a “scapegoat.”

Jeremic is the DOGE-UN “senior advisor.” When he ran for UN secretary-general in 2016, he was endorsed by Serbia. He was also elected president of the General Assembly for the 2012-2013 term. In that role, he wrote that he “played a leading role in steering the UN towards the establishment of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” according to the think tank he runs, the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD). (The US recently said at the UN that it “rejects” the SDGs.)

Jeremic was Serbia’s foreign minister from 2007 to 2012. PassBlue also contacted him through his CIRSD email account but got no reply. Dugan said he “didn’t know” if Jeremic is planning to run for the UN top job. “You’ll have to ask him.”

News reports say Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son, traveled to Serbia this week to not only discuss the Trump family’s hotel project in Belgrade, the capital, but that he also met with President Aleksandar Vucic to discuss American foreign aid to the country. Vucic has been the target of massive street protests in the country for apparent corruption.

Dugan worked in the US diplomatic corps at the UN mission from 1989 to 2015. UN-DOGE’s address on its website, in Manhattan, is a private mailbox business. He said one way for the UN to save money was to have its simultaneous translators work remotely, bypassing the cost-of-living expenses for staffers based in New York City, he said. Yet, he also said that UN personnel should return to the headquarters to work full time rather than do so offsite.

As for Jeremic’s possible agenda at DOGE-UN, Richard Gowan, who directs the UN program at the International Crisis Group, a research nonprofit in New York City, said in an email to PassBlue: “I guess that at a moment when Russia and the U.S. are apparently reconciling at the UN, Vuk may think that he will resonate in Moscow and Washington.”

“This UN race,” he added, “is going to be pretty weird, and I think the outcome is quite open.”

When Jeremic ran for secretary-general in 2016, he came in second in UN Security Council straw polls, following Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal and head of the UN Refugee Agency. He had the backing of the US, under Samantha Power, then the US envoy to the UN, as well as the other veto holders, Britain, China, France and Russia.

In possibly trying to resonate with Washington and Moscow, Jeremic tweeted a response to US Vice President JD Vance’s speech on Feb. 25 at the Munich Security Conference, who said, “Europe faces many challenges, but the crisis this continent faces right now, the crisis I believe we all face together, is one of our own making.”

Jeremic wrote on X: “His message was plain, direct, and to the point. Instead of rolling our eyes or mourning a bygone era, we should listen carefully and think pragmatically about how to work with the United States to ensure global peace and stability. Ignoring reality is not a strategy. @JDVance”

When Jeremic ran for the UN leadership job nine years ago, he said that the UN should be the “centerpiece of global governance in the 21st century.” In 2024, his country pushed hard, with Russia, against a General Assembly resolution commemorating the Srebrenica genocide. The text was approved with 84 yes votes.

Michelle Bachelet, a former two-time president of Chile and a top human rights official at the UN, said earlier this month that she was “thinking” of running for secretary-general. Bachelet landed first in an informal survey by PassBlue in 2024 as to which woman should be UN leader. The Latin American region is claiming its turn to snag the UN post, and numerous civil society groups are beginning to publicly demand that the UN’s next leader must be a women, which has never been the case.

One diplomat said of Jeremic that he is already situating himself as a candidate, appearing to be close to both the US and to Russia. He often attends UN events, including a Chinese reception this year. A successful candidate for the UN job must win approval from all permanent-five Security Council members, but given the budding alliance of the Trump administration with President Vladimir Putin, people chasing the UN job will have to navigate the changing power equations.

Jeremic’s possible plans occur as Germany is slated to become president of the General Assembly in September. Originally, Helga Schmid, a former boss of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was picked to fill the slot. But Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is suddenly claiming the role, which would lend her a global spotlight. As Assembly president, she would also lead the selection process of the next secretary-general.

The secretary-general race unofficially begins in October, when member states will be encouraged to submit names of “qualified candidates” to the selection procedure, according to the ACT Group — an initiative of 27 countries promoting accountability, coherence and transparency in the Security Council. Cutoff for submissions is suggested by April 1, 2026, with public hearings of candidates’ platforms ensuing. Oct. 1 is the deadline for the Security Council to send a “recommendation” to the 193-member General Assembly for a final vote.

On Feb. 24, when the Security Council voted on a “path to peace” draft resolution, Britain, France and the other three European members abstained on the US-led text, while Russia voted in favor. Its yes vote signaled a dramatic shift in its relationship with the US in the Council and far beyond. Trump’s overtures to end Russia’s illegal invasion in Ukraine have so far amounted to an agreement by Putin with Trump not to attack energy infrastructure if Kyiv agreed to do the same, as well as prisoner swaps.

In other moves by Russia aligning with the US at the UN, the two countries wrote a presidential statement on the deadly violence that erupted on the coast of Syria in March. Additionally, in Geneva, the US abstained from a vote on a resolution drafted by the governing body of the International Labor Organization, condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and urging it to withdraw its troops. The resolution was approved by consensus, Geneva Solutions reported, after Russia’s proposed amendments were rejected by 35 countries.

When Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, Jeremic tweeted: “I woke up to a sunny morning on the East Coast of America. In a matter of hours, Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump will take the oath of office as President of the United States for the second time. This new chapter presents a unique opportunity to redefine alliances, strengthen economic policies, and revitalize diplomatic engagements worldwide. It offers a chance to harness the power of disruption for positive change, paving the way for a future that balances national interests with global cooperation.

Despite the uncertainties, there is hope that this era will be defined by bold leadership and visionary policies that prioritize prosperity and peace. Let us embrace this new dawn with a conviction that, together, we can create a better world.”

Dulcie Leimbach

Dulcie Leimbach is a co-founder, with Barbara Crossette, of PassBlue. For PassBlue and other publications, Leimbach has reported from New York and overseas from West Africa (Burkina Faso and Mali) and from Europe (Scotland, Sicily, Vienna, Budapest, Kyiv, Armenia, Iceland, The Hague and Cyprus). She has provided commentary on the UN for BBC World Radio, ARD German TV and Radio, NHK’s English channel, Background Briefing with Ian Masters/KPFK Radio in Los Angeles and the Foreign Press Association.

Previously, she was an editor for the Coalition for the UN Convention Against Corruption; from 2008 to 2011, she was the publications director of the United Nations Association of the USA. Before UNA, Leimbach was an editor at The New York Times for more than 20 years. She began her reporting career in small-town papers in San Diego, Calif., and graduating to the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Leimbach has been a fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies as well as at Yaddo, the artists’ colony in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; taught news reporting at Hofstra University; and guest-lectured at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the CUNY Journalism School. She graduated from the University of Colorado and has an M.F.A. in writing from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.