Musk: USAID ‘beyond repair,’ to be shut down
WASHINGTON—Billionaire Elon Musk, who heads US President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, said on Monday the Trump administration was working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Trump has assigned Musk, who is also SpaceX and Tesla CEO, to head the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which is overseeing huge cost-cutting efforts in the federal government.
In a conversation posted on social media network X, which he also owns, Musk discussed plans to dismantle the US foreign aid agency.
“It’s beyond repair,” he said, adding that Trump himself agreed it should be shut down.
The conversation on X included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee.
Sensitive information
According to sources, the Trump administration removed two top security officials at USAID over the weekend, after they tried to stop Doge representatives from gaining access to restricted parts of the building and refused to turn over classified material.
There was no record of what information Doge officials were able to obtain, but the sources said the offices they accessed included classified files and personal information about Americans who work at USAID.
Doge spokesperson Katie Miller said on X, however, that no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.
Matt Hopson, whom Trump had just appointed USAID chief of staff, has resigned, following the incident with Doge officials, sources said.
Doge had earlier carried out a similar operation at the Treasury Department, gaining access to sensitive information including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems.
Democrat Peter Welch, a member of the Senate finance committee, called for an explanation as to why Musk had been handed such access—even to what the senator claimed was taxpayers’ sensitive data.
“It’s a gross abuse of power by an unelected bureaucrat and it shows money can buy power in the Trump White House,” Welch said in an emailed statement.
Aid programs at risk
USAID, which has a staff of more than 10,000, is the world’s largest single donor, disbursing $72 billion in 2023 alone on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatment, energy security and anticorruption work.
Trump has ordered a global freeze on most US aid as part of his “America First” policy.
The move is already sending shockwaves around the world—with field hospitals in Thai refugee camps, landmine clearance in war zones, and treatment for millions suffering from HIV and other diseases among the programs at risk of elimination.
USAID’s website disappeared on Saturday without explanation—a sign that the end is near for the agency.
‘Doing a great job’
On Sunday, Trump told reporters that USAID has “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out.”
Nearly 30 career staff in the agency’s Legislative and Public Affairs Bureau have lost access to their emails, bringing close to 100 the total number of senior USAID career staff put on leave over the past week.
Also on Sunday, Musk accused USAID of being “a criminal organization,” but without providing any evidence, adding that it was “time for it to die.”
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
Asked on Sunday if Musk was doing a good job, Trump said “He’s a big cost-cutter. Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job.”
