In response to reports that two top security officials at the aid organization were given leave leave for refusing his representatives access to secret documents, Elon Musk has declared that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should “die.”
After security officials reportedly denied members of his cost-cutting task force access to restricted areas of the agency’s Washington, DC, Musk, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), branded USAID a “criminal organization.”
On his social media platform X, Musk wrote, “Time for it to die.”
USAID’s director of security, John Voorhees, and his deputy, Brian McGill, were placed on leave after denying DOGE personnel entry to secure areas over their lack of security clearances, multiple US media outlets reported, citing unnamed officials.
Following the confrontation, which was first reported by CNN, the representatives of DOGE, which was established by Trump in an executive order but is not a government department, were ultimately able to access areas with classified information.
Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, denied that DOGE personnel had attempted to gain access to secure areas, calling a PBS report about the incident “fake news” and “not even remotely true at all”.
In a post on X, Cheung remarked, “This is how unserious and untrustworthy the media is.”
However, Katie Miller, who serves in DOGE, appeared to acknowledge the taskforce’s attempted entry, writing on X that “no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances”.
The incident has added to concerns that Trump, who has placed a freeze on nearly all foreign aid, is planning to radically curtail, or even outright dismantle, USAID.
The Department of State’s website went offline on Saturday, causing rumors that it would be merged with the USAID website while a stripped-down version of the agency appeared there.
“President Trump spent two weeks harassing and laying off USAID employees, and now his team is trying to gut the agency altogether”, Chris Coons, a Democratic senator for the state of Delaware, said on X.
These Americans honor our country’s leadership by promoting it internationally. They make us safer. Trump makes us less safe”.
Despite not holding an elected office, Musk’s influence on the government was also raised by Democratic lawmakers.
“This is a five alarm fire. Donald Trump was chosen by the people, not Elon Musk, according to New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on X.
“Having an unelected billionaire, with his own foreign debts and motives, raiding US classified information is a grave threat to national security. This should not be a partisan issue.
Before making a decision about its future, Trump told reporters on Sunday that his administration would remove the “radical lunatics” from USAID.
Trump later praised South Africa’s aid, promising to stop “all future funding” in response to the government’s seizure of land and “certain classes of people’s” poor treatment.
A controversial law that allows the seizing of white farmers’ land without compensation was signed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week.
According to US government data, the US provided nearly $440 million in aid to South Africa in 2023.
Trump continued, adding that the funding freeze would continue until a “full investigation of this situation has been completed,” saying, “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act.”
Although less than 1% of its budgets are used for aid, the US is by far the largest source of foreign aid in the world, and some other nations provide more in return.
Source: Aljazeera
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