Billionaire Elon Musk, who currently heads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is talking about the need to close the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Reuters writes about this.
The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican Senator Joni Ernst, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down USAID.
“It’s beyond repair,” Musk said. He says the US President Donald Trump agrees that USAID should be shut down. Musk said the shutdown of USAID is part of a cost-cutting initiative by the US government.
On his social network X, he stated that USAID allegedly funded biological weapons research.
At the same time, he shared a post by another user, X, in which he calls USAID a "CIA front organization" and claims that the agency directed $53 million to the EcoHealth Alliance, which used American taxpayer funds to support coronavirus research at a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
In addition, Elon Musk has shared numerous tweets in which users approve of the intention to defund USAID and call the agency “the largest global terrorist organization in history”. In one of his own messages, Musk also wrote that USAID is a criminal organization and “it’s time for it to die”.
CNN, citing sources, writes that two senior USAID employees were placed on unpaid leave on February 1 after they tried to deny officials from the department headed by Musk access to USAID systems. According to CNN interlocutors, DOGE employees wanted to infiltrate USAID headquarters in Washington and gain access to the agencyʼs security systems and classified information.
USAID is the worldʼs largest donor. In fiscal year 2023, the United States provided $72 billion in aid for everything from womenʼs health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatment, energy security, and the fight against corruption. The agency provided 42% of all humanitarian assistance tracked by the UN in 2024.
- On January 24, the US State Department ordered a freeze on new funding for nearly all US foreign assistance programs as part of President Donald Trumpʼs drive to "align these programs with his foreign policy goals."
- On January 26, Suspilne, citing sources, wrote that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ukraine had received an order to suspend all projects and expenditures on them. USAID did not officially comment on the situation.
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