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The future of the main US agency for foreign aid is in doubt after its website went dark, two top security officials were put on leave and Trump ally Elon Musk labelled it “a criminal organisation” that should “die”.
Aid workers, diplomats and lawmakers have been trying to make sense of a series of ominous developments at the US Agency for International Development. Its website is down, some officials have lost access to emails and been put on leave, and there are suggestions it will be absorbed into the state department.
“President Trump spent two weeks harassing and laying off USAID employees, and now his team is trying to gut the agency altogether,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons said on X on Sunday.
USAID is an independent agency with some 10,000 employees worldwide that is responsible for administering US foreign aid and development programmes. Former President Joe Biden elevated the USAID administrator to the National Security Council. Trump has not named a new USAID administrator.
The state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the status of USAID’s website or its plans for the agency. The USAID administrator works under the authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio but it is an independent agency with its own budget.
USAID did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump and his team have made clear that they want US foreign aid to align with his “America First” platform. The absorption of USAID into the state department could mean less money available for long-standing US development and assistance programmes. This would slash American spending but could also harm humanitarian efforts worldwide and allow China to fill the void.
Brian Mast, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday that USAID is “likely going to be rolled more closely under Secretary Rubio”.
“I would be absolutely for, if that’s the path we go down, removing USAID as a separate department, and having it fall under . . . other parts of the United States . . . because of its failure.”
Two top security officials were placed on leave on Saturday after they refused to allow officials from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access agency systems, including classified information, according to a person familiar with the matter. CNN first reported the clash. Dozens of other career USAID officials have also been put on leave since last week, with some accused of trying to thwart Trump’s directions for the agency.
Trump has made Musk’s DOGE responsible for cutting what both men say is wasteful US government spending.
Musk fired off a series of criticisms of USAID on X on Sunday, calling it “a criminal organisation” and “evil”.
“Time for it to die,” he wrote.
Trump has already frozen billions of dollars in foreign assistance. The immediate pause to all foreign aid projects has prompted crises at humanitarian and development organisations involved in everything from life-saving medical activities to anti-narcotics efforts to clean water programmes.
Hundreds have been fired or furloughed and more cuts are expected in the weeks ahead. The state department last week created an exemption for some life-saving humanitarian assistance.
Current and former officials said the potential absorption of USAID into the state department could be a test case for the Trump administration as it looks to wield executive power.
“This administration appears to be testing what they can get away with in terms of acting unilaterally to reshape the functions and the footprint of the US government in ways that Congress has not authorised, Congress has not appropriated for, and Congress has, in fact, prohibited them from doing in certain statutes,” said Tess Bridgeman, who worked in the state department’s legal adviser office and on the National Security Council during the Obama administration.
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