FILE PHOTO: Visitors make their way up the stairs at the opening of the restoration project at Bimaristan Al-Muayyad Sheikh, an ancient hospital, after a major renovation. The project was undertaken through a collaboration between Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aiming for sustainable management of historic locations in Cairo’s Souk al-Silah district. This took place on August 18, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo. Photo credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh | Reuters.
In a dramatic turn of events at USAID, the director of security and his deputy found themselves on administrative leave this Saturday. This followed their attempts to block employees from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive USAID systems, as revealed by five informed sources speaking to NBC News.
The systems that the DOGE team attempted to access included not just personnel files but also high-security platforms with some classified information that exceeded the security clearance levels of certain DOGE staff, according to three of the sources. Two sources further noted that these systems contained security clearance records for agency personnel.
Katie Miller, who had served in Trump’s first administration and is currently with DOGE, clarified in a Sunday post on X that “no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”
When USAID’s Security Director John Voorhees and Deputy Brian McGill denied them access, DOGE personnel reportedly threatened to bring in U.S. Marshalls, two sources mentioned. Eventually, the DOGE employees gained access to the secure systems, but it remains unclear what specific information they retrieved.
Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Musk, empowered by Trump and co-leader of DOGE, stirred the pot by making bold claims on X over the weekend. He called for the dismantling of USAID, labeling the agency—with no evidence—as a “criminal organization.”
There’s talk among officials from the Trump administration about possibly placing USAID under the State Department’s control. Different sources, including over a dozen current and former officials, have backed these discussions. This move has been contentious, with Democrats and legal experts warning it might breach laws set by Congress to establish the agency, according to earlier reports by NBC News.
So far, requests for comments from the State Department, USAID, and Musk have not been answered.
Compounding the uncertainty, the USAID.gov site went offline on Saturday and seemed to remain down by Sunday evening. However, a USAID page linked to the state.gov homepage is still operational.
As of now, more than 1,000 USAID employees and contractors face job losses or have been put on leave. This includes over 300 from the Global Health bureau and 600 from the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, following a wide-scale freeze on U.S. global aid imposed by the Trump administration just over a week ago.
In the latest workforce reductions, a significant portion of the 125-member Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs was put on administrative leave late Saturday. According to three sources familiar with the decision, and yet another source mentioned that several communications staff from the agency have lost access to internal systems needed for staff communication this week.
A USAID official confided to NBC News, “No one feels safe going near the Ronald Reagan building. Elon Musk just labeled us a criminal organization, our security chief is gone, and it feels like we’re being watched by DOGE.”
