Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed he has been named acting administrator of USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development, hours after Elon Musk said early Monday that President Donald Trump “agreed” with him that the independent humanitarian agency should be shut down.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a plane en route to El Salvador at Panama Pacifico ... [+]
USAID employees at an annex office in Washington, D.C., were seen clearing out their desks, The New York Times reported.
Rubio confirmed to reporters traveling with him in Central America that he had been appointed acting administrator of USAID and said he “delegated” his authority to someone, though the Times reported he didn’t name the person.
Citing three anonymous U.S. officials, CBS News reported Monday that USAID will be merged with the State Department and will have “significant cuts in the workforce, but it will remain a humanitarian aid entity.”
Hours after Musk said Trump approved shutting down USAID, ABC News reported the president—whose administration has been seemingly moving toward putting USAID under the control of the State Department—appointed Rubio to temporarily lead the independent organization.
Musk continued ranting against USAID in a post on X in which he said the agency “is/was a radical-left political psy op.”
USAID staffers were told to work from home and avoid the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Monday, multiple outlets reported, and hundreds of employees lost access to the computer systems overnight, according to the Associated Press.
An X Spaces stream began to discuss the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), during which Musk said he checked with the president a few times about USAID—which Musk claimed, without evidence, was “incredibly politically partisan”—and asked “Are you sure?” and Trump said yes, “so we’re shutting it down.”
Musk described USAID as not just an “apple with a worm it in” but rather a “bowl of worms” which was “beyond repair” and the only solution was “You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing.”
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who was also on the stream, said if there are “truly good pro-American programs” under USAID’s authority they should be moved under the State Department and “make sure we have proper oversight.”
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Earlier on Sunday evening, Trump was asked by reporters about the state of USAID and said: “Well it's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out...and then we'll make a decision.”
“There are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy,” Rubio told reporters Monday. “Every dollar we spend and every program we fund ... will be aligned with the national interest of the United States, and USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that they’re somehow a global charity.”
USAID is the primary international humanitarian aid and development branch of the U.S. government, and is operated both as an “independent establishment” and under “the direct authority and policy guidance of the Secretary of State,” and each administration has taken its own approach to how that should look, according to the Congressional Research Service. The organization was established in 1961 and provides assistance to countries and leads U.S. efforts against poverty, disease and humanitarian need. In fiscal year 2023, the agency had more than 10,000 employees, managed more than $40 billion in appropriations and gave assistance to about 130 countries.
Operatives from the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk leads, were reportedly stopped by senior USAID security officials while trying to access materials at the aid agency’s office, including classified information. According to CNN, the two USAID officials were placed on administrative leave on Saturday and the DOGE operatives were ultimately able to access the classified materials despite lacking the appropriate security clearances. Musk responded to CNN’s report by calling USAID a “criminal organization” without any evidence and adding that it was “time for it to die.”
The USAID website went offline on Saturday afternoon amid a push by the Trump administration to bring the independent aid agency under the direct control of the State Department. Trump’s recent actions—including an order to freeze most foreign aid—have triggered confusion and uncertainty at the agency over the past week as staffers feared an impending shutdown. Several of the agency’s signs were taken down from its Washington D.C. offices on Friday, NBC News reported. Global aid groups have warned that shutting down USAID and a halt on U.S. foreign aid may have a catastrophic humanitarian impact across the world.
What To Know About Trump’s USAID Changes—After Elon Musk’s DOGE Accesses Classified Info (Forbes)