How the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Service has been gutted in the past, and why people are upset about it
The global health program, which was founded by former US president George W. Bush and is overseen by the State Department, has saved an estimated 26 million lives since its launch in 2003. It’s implemented by a handful of government agencies, including USAID. Sources tell WIRED that much of the program’s work remains paused and that the Trump administration’s waiver allows it to resume activity, while the freeze is still in effect.
Several employees of the agency who work on HIV and AIDS programs were interviewed for the story. They were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the agency. There were no responses to requests for comment from the US Agency for International Development.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Service has plowed through several government agencies since President Donald Trump took office last month, proposing sweeping changes to federal infrastructure. No agency has been more gutted than the U.S. Agency. A group of young DOGE agents has been stationed in the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development since last week, and the team began cutting off staff email accounts on a random basis after wresting control of the agency’s secure systems. “It’s been absolutely hellish,” says a current USAID employee who lost access to their email on Monday morning.
“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk said on social media Sunday. Could you go to some great parties? Did that not happen?
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“Your money is being unfrozen but you can’t contact the people who actually froze it,” a senior official at an HIV/AIDS organization told WIRED. “There’s a bigger communication blockage that is frustrating even the efforts put in place to free up the lifesaving work.”
Information has been seen by WIRED that indicates that leadership attempted to make a list of employees in other countries. On Tuesday, Pete Marocco, the State Department’s newly appointed foreign assistance director tapped to oversee USAID, convened with senior State Department leaders and instructed them to bring all overseas employees back to the US, according to CBS News. The news outlet also reported that Marocco said he would evacuate staff with support from the US military if necessary.
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According to the Secretary of State, if aid organizations made mistakes that was a reflection of their incompetence. “If some organization is receiving funds from the United States and does not know how to apply a waiver, then I have real questions about the competence of that organization,” Rubio said. He added that perhaps some groups were “deliberately sabotaging” the process to make “a political point.”
During his time as a US senator, he voiced his support for some US foreign aid programs. “Foreign Aid is not charity,” he said on social media in 2017. It is important to our national security, but it is less than1% of the budget.
Overall, USAID provided assistance to roughly 130 countries in 2023. A Congressional Research Service document states that Ethiopia, Kingdom of Jordan, the Democratic Republic of Clinton, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Syria received the most aid.