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Elon Musk. File photo: REUTERS
Elon Musk. File photo: REUTERS

Washington — US President Donald Trump and his administration are considering merging US foreign aid agency USAID into the state department to reduce the size of the agency’s workforce for efficiency purposes, the White House said on Monday.

The Trump administration planned to send a notification to Congress soon on Trump’s plans to revamp USAID, an official said. Trump has entrusted Elon Musk to oversee the project, the official added.

Billionaire Musk gave an update early on Monday, saying work is under way to shut down USAID.

Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, discussed the department of government efficiency (Doge) in a social media talk on Monday on X, which he also owns. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel.

The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

“It’s beyond repair,” Musk said, adding that Trump agrees it should be shut down.

The Trump administration removed two top security officials at USAID at the weekend after they tried to stop representatives from Musk’s Doge from gaining access to restricted parts of the building, three sources said.

USAID is the world’s largest single donor. In fiscal year 2023, the US disbursed $72bn of assistance worldwide on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/Aids treatments, energy security and anticorruption work. It provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the UN in 2024.

The website of USAID appeared to still be offline on Saturday and some users could not access it on Sunday. USAID has a staff of more than 10,000 people.

Trump has ordered a global freeze on most US foreign aid as part of his “America First” policy, which is already sending shock waves worldwide. Field hospitals in Thai refugee camps, landmine clearance in war zones, and drugs to treat millions suffering from diseases such as HIV are among the programmes at risk of elimination.

Speaking more broadly about cutting US expenses and fraud, Musk estimated the Trump administration can cut $1-trillion from the US deficit next year.

He asserted, for example, that “professional foreign fraud rings” were stealing vast sums by masquerading as or creating fake digital US citizens.

Musk did not offer any evidence to support his fraud claim or explain how he reached the amount of $1-trillion.

The online chat comes amid concerns about Musk’s access to the Treasury system, first reported by the New York Times, that sends out more than $6-trillion per year in payments on behalf of federal agencies and contains the personal information of millions of Americans who receive Social Security payments, tax refunds and other monies from the government.

Democrat Peter Welch, a member of the Senate finance committee, called for explanations about why Musk had been handed access to the payment system and what Welch said included 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.

Musk has Trump’s support. Asked Sunday if Musk was doing a good job, Trump agreed. “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. He’s a smart guy. Very smart. And he’s very much into cutting the budget of our federal budget.”

Musk’s team has been given access to or has taken control of numerous government systems.

Aides to Musk charged with running the US government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.

Musk has moved swiftly to install allies at the agency known as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). A team including current and former employees of Musk assumed command of OPM on January 20, the day Trump took office, the sources added.

Since taking office 11 days ago, Trump has embarked on a huge government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps towards downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.

Reuters

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