The Trump administration removed two senior security officials at USAID over the weekend after they attempted to block representatives from billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing restricted areas of the agency, three sources said Sunday.
The move is part of a broader shake-up, with dozens of USAID officials being removed as Trump’s team seeks to curb the agency’s independence and potentially place it under State Department control.
USAID Staff Access Revoked
Nearly 30 career staff in the agency’s Legislative and Public Affairs bureau lost access overnight to their emails, at least five sources said, bringing the total number of senior USAID career staff who have been put on leave over the past week close to 100.
“DOGE did access the building yesterday,” a senior Senate Democratic aide said, requesting anonymity to discuss the incident. USAID security officers tried to turn away DOGE personnel without security clearances.
“They (security personnel) were threatened with action by the federal Marshals Service,” the aide said. Following the incident, the director of USAID security, John Voorhees, and his deputy were removed from their positions and put on leave, sources said.
Trump Criticises USAID
Trump on Sunday said the agency has “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out.”
“We’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision,” he told reporters.
The purge follows more than a week of mayhem inside USAID, Washington’s primary agency funding billions of dollars’ worth of life-saving aid globally. Trump ordered a freeze on almost all U.S. foreign aid, saying his administration will review spending to ensure money is distributed in line with his “America First” foreign policy.
DOGE Gains Access
Members of the group from DOGE were allowed to access several secure spaces, including the office of security and the agency’s executive secretariat.
There was no record of what information DOGE officials were able to obtain in those areas, but the offices they accessed included classified files and personal information about Americans who work at USAID, the sources said.
Katie Miller, a DOGE spokesperson, said on social media platform X that no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.
Matt Hopson, who had just been appointed as USAID chief of staff by the Trump administration, has resigned, five sources familiar with the matter said. A congressional source said his resignation followed the incident with DOGE officials. USAID did not respond to a request for comment about Hopson.
CNN was the first to report the incident between USAID and DOGE officials.
Legal Battle Looms
Congressional Democrats said the changes appeared to violate U.S. laws establishing USAID and funding it as a separate agency. Two senior Senate Democratic aides said lawmakers and staff had been meeting on Sunday and would meet again on Monday to consider further steps, including legal action.
Senior Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including its chair Jeanne Shaheen, on Sunday sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking an explanation over the incident. Shaheen said that she was working to gather Democrats and Republicans to ask for answers.
Aid Freeze Impact
The global freeze on most of U.S. foreign aid is already sending shockwaves around the world. Field hospitals in Thai refugee camps, landmine clearance in war zones, and drugs to treat millions suffering from diseases such as HIV are among the programs at risk of elimination.
The State Department and USAID did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, billionaire Trump ally Musk on Sunday continued to slam USAID in his posts and reposts on his X social network. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel with broad oversight powers.
Officials from DOGE have made frequent visits to USAID headquarters in Washington, according to sources familiar with the matter.
‘A Criminal Organisation’
On Sunday, Musk accused USAID of being “a criminal organisation” without providing any evidence and added, “Time for it to die”.
Peter Marocco was appointed as head of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the State Department and is leading the agency’s sweeping changes, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Marocco previously served in Trump’s first administration in the Department of Defense. The State Department did not respond to questions about Marocco.
USAID’s website has been down since Saturday afternoon, a sign that the end is near for the agency, whose funding goes to programs on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work.
(With inputs from Reuters)
