The new director of USAID, in conjunction with the State Department, has just ordered all overseas USAID missions to shut down by Friday and for all employees to return to the US.
Here’s the report via CBS News:
All overseas missions for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, have been ordered to shut down and all staff will be recalled by Friday, multiple sources confirmed to CBS News.
The newly appointed deputy administrator for the agency, Pete Marocco, met with State Department leadership on Tuesday and instructed them to get every USAID employee out of their respective countries worldwide by Friday, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Marocco said that if the State Department did not, the staff would be evacuated by the U.S. military, the sources said.
USAID has more than 10,000 employees, with about two-thirds serving overseas, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The agency maintains more than 60 country and regional missions.
The Trump administration has targeted USAID as the president and his allies — including billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — seek to cut the size of the federal government.
The future of the agency — which was established in 1961 to combat poverty, strengthen democracy and protect human rights and global health — is now uncertain.
Musk has said the agency should be shut down, arguing that it’s “beyond repair.”
When asked Tuesday whether he would wind down USAID, Trump told reporters, “It sounds like it.” The president also praised Musk for scrutinizing the agency.
“Look at all the fraud that he’s found,” Mr. Trump said, adding that funding has gone to “all sorts of groups that shouldn’t deserve to get any money.”
Fantastic. This is how you end corruption. I know Democrats are screaming that this isn’t legal, but the executive branch controls these departments and it sounds like an absolute must for them to shut it down given the rampant corruption.
In related news, someone pointed this out this week: