Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that after a six-week review, the Trump administration will be canceling 83% of programs at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio wrote on X.
He said the remaining programs would be under the control of the State Department. “In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” Rubio said.
Last month, Reuters reported that only 293 USAID employees out of the 10,000 employed by the agency were expected to keep their jobs.
The secretary thanked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for its involvement in the review. ” It’s unclear at this point what kind of programs will remain.
The pause on foreign aid and overhaul of USAID has highlighted the agency’s role in destabilizing activities across the world, which includes advancing regime change efforts by funding opposition groups and media outlets in other countries.
