WaPo (“Trump moves to wrest control of USAID as Musk says, ‘We’re shutting it down’“):
The Trump administration and its allies moved to tighten control of the U.S. Agency for International Development over the weekend, signaling an intent to act forcefully to bring the U.S. foreign policy apparatus in line with the president’s “America First” approach to engaging with the world.
Current and former officials said the administration removed two top security officials at USAID on Saturday after they refused to allow representatives of the office led by billionaire Elon Musk access to restricted spaces at the agency.
The placement of the security officials — John Voorhees and his deputy — on administrative leave is alarming several lawmakers concerned about security protocols as the Trump administration and Musk aim to wrest control of the world’s largest provider of food assistance. Since President Donald Trump took office two weeks ago, the agency has been under siege and whipsawed by aid freezes, personnel purges and confusion.
Musk, heading a government efficiency effort under Trump, said on X early Monday that he is in the process closing the agency with Trump’s blessing.
“I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said. “And I actually checked with him a few times [and] said ‘are you sure?’”
The answer was yes, he said.
“And so we’re shutting it down,” Musk said.
[…]
Amid the turmoil, Matt Hopson, the USAID chief of staff and a political appointee, resigned, according to a current and former USAID official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation. Hopson did not respond to requests for comment.
Voorhees was put on leave after he did not allow officials from the “Department of Government Efficiency” to access a sensitive compartmented information facility — commonly known as a SCIF — an ultra-secure room where officials and government contractors take extraordinary precautions to review highly classified information, according to three current and former USAID officials.
A group of about eight DOGE officials entered the USAID building Saturday and demanded access to every door and floor, despite only a few of them having security clearance, according to a Senate Democratic staff memberwho spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the incident.
When USAID personnel attempted to block access to some areas, DOGE officials threatened to call federal marshals, the aide said. The DOGE officials were eventually given access to “secure spaces” including the security office.
The Senate staffer also said top officials from USAID’s office and the bulk of the staff in USAID’s Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs were put on leave later Saturday. Some of them were not notified but had their access to agency terminals suspended.
CNN (“USAID workers at Washington HQ told to stay home on Monday in unexpected, early-morning email“):
The main office of the US Agency for International Development in Washington was unexpectedly closed Monday and workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come in, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
“At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025. Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely tomorrow, with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership,” said the email, of which CNN has obtained a copy.
It’s the latest ominous sign for the longtime international aid agency, which has found itself in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s effort to reform the federal government. Trump and his allies have said the agency, created by Congress as an independent body, is overtly partisan and favorable to Democrats
[…]
USAID logos and photos showing the humanitarian work the agency does around the globe were removed from its offices last week, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CNN.
“All of the visuals have been taken down. These are like large-scale photos of our work in developing countries that are in our lobbies, in our galleys, in communal kitchens, hallways,” a USAID employee said. “An order also came down to individual bureaus and offices to remove all USAID artwork and signage.”
Another USAID worker told CNN: “They’ve taken the photos off the walls, and we’re missing half of our colleagues because our colleagues are gone and have been let go, and everyone sort of feels like they’re walking around with a target on their back.”
A source who works in a USAID annex building told CNN they have no word on whether they should go to work on Monday.
When asked if leaders in their department appeared to have any more information on the future of the agency’s work, the source said: “Our senior leaders have all been fired.”
Around 60 senior USAID staff were put on leave last week on accusations of attempting to circumvent Trump’s executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days. Many more junior staff and contractors within the agency have been placed on furlough as well, multiple sources told CNN.
On Saturday, USAID’s website went dark and a new page for the agency appeared on the State Department website. USAID’s X account also went offline Saturday, and a source told CNN that the entire USAID public affairs office was put on leave and locked out of their systems.
And, of course, USAID seems to be just part of a larger scheme.
WSJ (“Musk Moves With Lightning Speed to Exert Control Over the Government“):
Elon Musk’s allies are moving swiftly to exert control over vast swaths of the U.S. government, as they demand access to sensitive information at federal agencies and lay out plans to block spending they deem excessive.
Musk, the billionaire adviser to President Trump who runs the Department of Government Efficiency, oversaw a successful effort by his representatives to get direct access to a payment system that distributes trillions of dollars to Americans each year. And individuals working for DOGE accessed the U.S. Agency for International Development following a clash with security officials.
The moves marked the start of a far-reaching campaign by Musk to upend the federal government agency by agency, according to his allies. The effort prompted outrage from Democrats, and some Republicans, who said Musk doesn’t have the authority to overturn programs and spending priorities decided by Congress. They also raised concerns about the nature of Musk’s operation, which is run by individuals with ties to the tech sector who haven’t been confirmed by the Senate and could benefit financially from the actions DOGE takes.
“This is completely unprecedented,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
DOGE had initially been conceived as an outside advisory panel. But Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office that established the group within the executive branch. Much about DOGE’s operations remains murky. The Trump administration hasn’t released a list of people working for DOGE or outlined their potential conflicts of interest, and officials haven’t detailed which contracts they have canceled.
Elon Musk’s allies are moving swiftly to exert control over vast swaths of the U.S. government, as they demand access to sensitive information at federal agencies and lay out plans to block spending they deem excessive.
Musk, the billionaire adviser to President Trump who runs the Department of Government Efficiency, oversaw a successful effort by his representatives to get direct access to a payment system that distributes trillions of dollars to Americans each year. And individuals working for DOGE accessed the U.S. Agency for International Development following a clash with security officials.
The moves marked the start of a far-reaching campaign by Musk to upend the federal government agency by agency, according to his allies. The effort prompted outrage from Democrats, and some Republicans, who said Musk doesn’t have the authority to overturn programs and spending priorities decided by Congress. They also raised concerns about the nature of Musk’s operation, which is run by individuals with ties to the tech sector who haven’t been confirmed by the Senate and could benefit financially from the actions DOGE takes.
“This is completely unprecedented,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
DOGE had initially been conceived as an outside advisory panel. But Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office that established the group within the executive branch. Much about DOGE’s operations remains murky. The Trump administration hasn’t released a list of people working for DOGE or outlined their potential conflicts of interest, and officials haven’t detailed which contracts they have canceled.
[…]
Trump offered support for Musk on Sunday night, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “I think Elon is doing a good job,” Trump said. “He’s a big cost-cutter. Sometimes we won’t agree with it, and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job. He’s a smart guy.” Trump added that “radical lunatics” are running USAID.
[…]
“The potential access of sensitive, even classified, files, which may include the personally identifiable information…of Americans working with USAID, and this incident as a whole, raises deep concerns about the protection and safeguarding of matters related to U.S. national security,” Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote in a Saturday letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The episode unfolded as Musk worked to disassemble the 10,000-person, $40 billion agency and rein in its autonomy. Musk posted on X over the weekend that USAID was a corrupt organization filled with Marxist staffers, providing no evidence for his broadsides. “USAID is a criminal organization,” he wrote in one post. “Time for it to die.” Trump planned to release an executive order folding the USAID into the State Department.
USAID.gov, the agency’s website, was taken offline and placed into a subsection of State’s website. Then USAID’s X account was also removed, leaving behind a message that reads: “This account doesn’t exist.”
That this is all entirely illegal is simply an interesting side note, it seems. We’re hearing some mild muttering from Congressional Democrats but there’s no sign that anything is being done about any of this.
The notion that a foreign aid agency is somehow partisan is just . . . weird. I’m quite sure that most of its employees lean Democratic, but its mission is entirely overseas and proscribed by Congress. It also happens to nest very neatly in the national security strategies of the last several US Presidents, notably that of Trump 45.
Regardless, the fallout from this and the bizarre trade war with our closest ally will be hard to undo.
