Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he is serving as acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, taking the lead at the foreign aid agency a day after President Trump criticized the leaders there as “radical lunatics.”

The spotlight shifted onto USAID early Monday after Elon Musk said that Mr. Trump had agreed to shut down the agency.

“I’m the acting director of USAID,” Mr. Rubio told reports during a trip to Central America.

He said USAID had wandered away from its mission by refusing to respond to policy directives from the State Department and the White House.

“Our goal was to go in and align our foreign aid to the national interests.” Mr. Rubio said. “But if you go to mission after mission, and embassy after embassy around the world, you will often find in many cases, USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we are trying to do in our national strategy with that country or that region.”

“That cannot continue,” Mr. Rubio said. “USAID is not an independent, non-governmental entity. It is an entity that spends taxpayer dollars.”

Over the weekend, the Trump administration placed two top security chiefs at the USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Mr. Musk and his inspection teams.

The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency advisory board members eventually gained access to the files.

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.