Elon Musk Leads Public Campaign Against USAID After DOGE Officials Denied Access To Classified Information

Elon Musk is waging a public war against the U.S. Agency for International Development after members of his staff at the Department of Government Efficient were denied access to some of the organization’s classified information. Staff at the agency are already facing retaliation. Mr. Musk’s DOGE staff traveled to the USAID offices in recent days to demand access to classified information, including intelligence reports, despite not having the requisite security clearances, according to the Associated Press. Two security officials at USAID, John Vorhees and Brian McGill, were placed on leave after refusing to allow DOGE staff to access the information. Mr. Musk’s underlings eventually did make their way into the agency’s intelligence reports, however. This comes as the Trump administration is considering a unilateral reshuffling of USAID, moving it under the umbrella of the State Department from its current status as a standalone agency. As of Sunday, USAID’s official website had been taken down and moved to a page on the State Department’s website. The agency’s X account was also taken down. Mr. Musk spent much of Sunday morning posting about USAID and its programs, making clear that he doesn’t just want the organization relegated to the State Department. “USAID is a criminal organization,” Mr. Musk wrote in one post. “Time for it to die.”“USAID was a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America,” he wrote in another. Republicans have not come out alongside Mr. Musk to demand the immediate shuttering of USAID, which would require an act of Congress. The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Brian Mast, said on Sunday that he is “working” on a way to move the agency into the State Department. “This is something that I’m working on … in conjunction with Secretary Rubio to make sure that there’s the appropriate command and control of these agencies,” Mr. Mast said. “Ten to thirty cents on the dollar is what actually goes to aid, so there’s not the right amount of command and control that’s going on with the way it’s set up currently.”“I would be absolutely for it if that’s the path we go down — removing USAID as a separate department and having it fall under … the United States Department of State because of its failure,” Mr. Mast said. According to the Congressional Research Service, USAID spent more than $40 billion in the 2023 fiscal year, with the largest piece of it going to the European continent, specifically Ukraine and humanitarian efforts related to the war. The agency has more than 10,000 full-time employees, though they also work with a vast network of non-profits and other organizations outside of government. In total, just 10 percent of USAID’s funds go directly to groups in the countries receiving aid, with the rest being awarded to American contractors, non-governmental groups, and non-profits. The former administrator during the Biden administration, Samantha Power, set a target for 25 percent of USAID contract dollars to go to those in-country groups, though that target has not yet been reached. It isn’t just Americans who are pushing the idea of shrinking or shuttering USAID permanently. The leader of El Salvador, President Bukele, said on Sunday that the agency has long been used to fund non-governmental organizations and opposition parties in developing nations. “Most governments don’t want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up. While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements,” Mr. Bukele wrote on X. “Cutting this so-called aid isn’t just beneficial for the United States; it’s also a big win for the rest of the world.”Mr. Musk’s war against USAID is just the latest in his crusade against federal agencies and the agency employees that he deems inefficient. President Trump has already issued a hiring freeze for the federal government as Mr. Musk and DOGE comb their way through individual organizations and budget line items. Senator Warner, whose home state of Virginia is home to a large chunk of the federal workforce, has been raising alarms about these kinds of hiring freezes and assaults on federal agencies. During an interview with “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Mr. Warner, who is a Democrat, said the orders are likely illegal. “With lots of federal employees [in my state], we’ve got chaos on steroids going on,” he said. “We’ve heard from Trump supporters — the OMB director [nominee], for example — that he wanted to traumatic federal workers. Well, that has happened.”

Elon Musk Leads Public Campaign Against USAID After DOGE Officials Denied Access To Classified Information

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