Trump administration to cut all USAID overseas roles in dramatic restructuring
In a Tuesday state department cable obtained by the Guardian, secretary of state Marco Rubio ordered the abolishment of the agency's entire international workforce, transferring control of foreign assistance programs directly to the state department.
The directive affects hundreds of USAID staff globally, including foreign service officers, contractors and locally employed personnel across more than 100 countries. Chiefs of mission at US embassies have been told to prepare for the sweeping changes to occur within four months.
'The Department of State is streamlining procedures under National Security Decision Directive 38 to abolish all USAID overseas positions,' the cable reads, adding that the department 'will assume responsibility for foreign assistance programming previously undertaken by USAID' from 15 June.
Among those who cleared the cable was Howard Van Vranken, a former ambassador to Botswana.
The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.
Secure Messaging in the Guardian app
The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.
If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'.
SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post
See our guide at theguardian.com/tips for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each.
Tammy Bruce, the state department spokesperson, confirmed the cable during a press briefing Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters that the incoming actions are just following through on Trump administration promises to destroy the agency.
'So this was a cable, telling our posts exactly what they were expecting to be told, which is that those positions were being eliminated. So it wasn't a surprise. It's nothing new,' Bruce said. 'And, it is exactly what we previewed, in February and March of this year.'
The decision to close the agency comes after the Trump administration – under the so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) – eliminated 83% of USAID's programs in a six-week purge after Donald Trump took office.
A federal judge had temporarily blocked an executive order by Trump for mass firings at multiple federal agencies, including the state department, and plaintiffs say Rubio's reorganization plan appears to violate that court injunction. The Trump administration says the plan was already underway when the president issued the order, so there's no possible violation.
Rubio announced in March that 5,200 of the agency's 6,200 programs worldwide had been terminated, with the surviving initiatives being absorbed into the state department.
The closures followed an executive order from Trump on his first day back in the White House on 20 January freezing foreign assistance pending a review.
While a waiver was subsequently announced for humanitarian assistance, questions were raised about USAID's future after its website disappeared on 1 February. Two days later, staff received an email telling them not to come to work following a weekend during which its servers were removed and leadership and senior staff fired or put on disciplinary leave.
Rubio declared himself that agency's acting administrator after staff were locked out of its Washington headquarters.
Amid the cuts, Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and then de facto leader of Doge, gleefully boasted of feeding USAID 'into the woodchopper', while disseminating false claims about its programs – including one assertion that the agency carried out a $50m project to provide condoms in Gaza, a claim that was subsequently proved to be untrue.
According to internal documents, senior officials at the agency warned Rubio of the devastating impact that would be caused by the cuts, including 1 million children untreated for malnutrition, up to 160,000 deaths from malaria and 200,000 more children paralyzed from polio over the next decade if they were implemented.
Remaining officials at the agency were ordered to destroy classified documents – using shredders and 'burn bags' – in March in an email from USAID's acting secretary, Erica Y Carr.
'Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,' Carr wrote to staff.
The state department declined to comment on the cable, but told the Guardian on the destruction of documents that 'all staff who have managed this process have the appropriate level clearances and have received previous records management training'.
This article was amended on 10 June 2025. A previous version inaccurately stated that thousands, not hundreds, of USAID staff globally would be affected by the cuts.
This article was updated on 11 June 2025 to include comments from the state department.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
28 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Festivals and Parades Are Canceled Amid US Immigration Anxiety
Pittsburgh had planned to host its first-ever local World Cup this summer, a community soccer competition inspired by the global tournament and aimed at celebrating the city's cultural diversity. The weeks-long event, which was set to begin in June, would have featured teams made up of residents from the city's vast immigrant community, who'd play under the flags of their national origins. But city officials called off the games amid growing anxieties over President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. The city also canceled its annual International Parade and Festival, which previously brought out vendors and performers from dozens of cultural groups. In a statement from Mayor Ed Gainey's office to Bloomberg, spokesperson Olga George said both events were canceled out of 'an abundance of caution' after consulting with residents and community stakeholders.
Associated Press
28 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Live updates: Federal agents will patrol Washington 24/7
The increased presence of local and federal law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C. has intensified in the days following President Donald Trump's unprecedented announcement that his administration would take over the city's police department for at least a month. For two days, small groups of federal officers had been visible in scattered areas of the city, but more were present in high-profile locations on Wednesday, setting up at least one vehicle checkpoint in a busy corridor that drew hecklers. Troops are expected to start more missions in Washington on Thursday, according to a National Guard spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the planning process. Update: Date: 2025-08-14 12:20:00 Title: Ask AP reporters a question Content: Update: Date: 2025-08-14 12:03:43 Title: Catch up on the latest headlines Content: AP Morning Wire curates the most important stories and sends them straight to your inbox. Sign up for the free newsletter here.
CNN
28 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump's immigration crackdown is raising fears as the school year gets underway in Los Angeles
Los Angeles students and teachers return to class for the new academic year Thursday under a cloud of apprehension after a summer filled with immigration raids and amid worries schools could become a target in the Trump administration's aggressive crackdown. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has urged immigration authorities not to conduct enforcement activity within a two-block radius around schools starting an hour before the school day begins and until one hour after classes let out. 'Hungry children, children in fear, cannot learn well,' Carvalho said in a news conference. He also announced measures intended to protect students and families, including adding or altering bus routes to accommodate more students. The district is to distribute a family preparedness packet that includes know-your-rights information, emergency contact updates and tips on designating a backup caregiver in case a parent is detained. The sprawling district, which covers more than two dozen cities, is the nation's second largest with more than 500,000 students. According to the teachers' union, 30,000 students are immigrants, and an estimated quarter of them are without legal status. While immigration agents have not detained anyone inside a school, a 15-year-old boy was pulled from a car and handcuffed outside Arleta High School in northern Los Angeles on Monday, Carvalho said. He had significant disabilities and was released after a bystander intervened in the case of 'mistaken identity,' the superintendent said. 'This is the exact type of incident that traumatizes our communities; it cannot repeat itself,' he added. Administrators at two elementary schools previously denied entry to officials from the Department of Homeland Security in April, and immigration agents have been seen in vehicles outside schools. DHS did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Carvalho said that while staffers and district police officers cannot interfere with immigration enforcement and do not have jurisdiction beyond school property, they have had conversations with federal agents parked in front of schools that resulted in them leaving. The district is partnering with local law enforcement in some cities and forming a 'rapid response' network to disseminate information about the presence of federal agents, he said. Teachers say they are concerned some students might not show up the first day. Lupe Carrasco Cardona, a high school social studies and English teacher at the Roybal Learning Center, said attendance saw a small dip in January when President Donald Trump took office. The raids ramped up in June right before graduations, putting a damper on ceremonies. One raid at a Home Depot near MacArthur Park, an area with many immigrant families from Central America, took place the same morning as an 8th grade graduation at a nearby middle school. 'People were crying, for the actual graduation ceremony there were hardly any parents there,' Cardona said. The next week, at her high school graduation, the school rented two buses to transport parents to the ceremony downtown. Ultimately many of the seats were empty, unlike other graduations. One 11th grader, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be published because she is in the country without legal permission and fears being targeted, said she is afraid to return to school. 'Instead of feeling excited, really what I'm feeling is concern,' said Madelyn, a 17-year-old from Central America. 'I am very, very scared, and there is a lot of pressure.' She added that she takes public transportation to school but fears being targeted on the bus by immigration agents because of her skin color. 'We are simply young people with dreams who want to study, move forward and contribute to this country as well,' she said. Madelyn joined a club that provides support and community for immigrant students and said she intends to persevere in that work. 'I plan to continue supporting other students who need it very much, even if I feel scared,' she said. 'But I have to be brave.' Some families who decide that the risk is too great to show up in-person have opted for online learning instead, according to Carvalho, with virtual enrollment up 7% this year. The district has also contacted at least 10,000 parents and visited more than 800 families over the summer to provide information about resources like transportation, legal and financial support and are deploying 1,000 workers from the district's central office on the first day of classes to 'critical areas' that have seen immigration raids. 'We want no one to stay home as a result of fears,' Carvalho said.
