Amid a wave of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) members being placed on leave—including two top officials who reportedly refused to share classified information with members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—the agency's chief of staff Matt Hopson has resigned, according to Reuters.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House and USAID for comment and confirmation via email on Sunday.
Why It Matters
The USAID has been a target of the new Trump administration, as shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump signed the Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid executive order, which freezes foreign aid as part of a reassessment of U.S. financial commitments abroad in line with his administration's "America First" stance.
The agency, which oversees foreign assistance programs, including humanitarian aid, economic development and disaster relief, has seen a significant shake up among personnel and has been criticized for various aid programs and inefficiencies since Trump has taken office.
DOGE, which is not a part of the federal government, is a new task force created by Trump and run by billionaire and prominent ally Elon Musk that is working to cut wasteful federal spending and "dismantle" government bureaucracy.
What To Know
Hopson, who was appointed as the agency's chief of staff by the Trump administration, reportedly resigned this weekend following reports of two top security officials—USAID director of security John Voorhees and deputy Brian McGill—were placed on leave, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
Hopson directly reported to USAID acting administrator Jason Gray.
Close to 100 USAID staff members have already been placed on leave, with the latest two reportedly linked to disputes with members of DOGE.
Voorhees and McGill's leave is reportedly a result of not handing over classified materials to members of DOGE who lacked the proper security clearance.
Disclosing classified information to someone without the proper security clearance is a violation of federal law. The two security officials were legally required to deny access to DOGE members who lacked the necessary security clearance.
Voorhees, a U.S. Army veteran, led the agency's "physical security, counterintelligence, and insider threat-related programs in Washington, D.C., and at locations throughout the world," according to an archived version of the USAID website, which has been offline since Saturday. Newsweek could not identify McGill's responsibilities.
The AP reported that DOGE eventually gained access to the classified information on Saturday.
Following Trump's enactment of the 90-day freeze on foreign aid to conduct a thorough review of "programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy," international aid organizations immediately felt the impact, with thousands of layoffs and programs halted worldwide.
The United States is the largest provider of global humanitarian assistance, providing around 40 percent, but foreign aid makes up less than 1 percent of the federal budget.
USAID is not the only federal agency facing restructuring and personnel shifts, as members of the Education Department and Department of Energy have also been placed on leave since Trump took office.
What People Are Saying
Elon Musk, the head of DOGE and CEO of Telsa and SpaceX, wrote on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday: "USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die."
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, wrote in an X post on Sunday: "This is a five alarm fire. The people elected Donald Trump to be President - not Elon Musk. 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."
Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, wrote in an X post on January 31: "A President cannot eliminate an appropriated federal agency by executive order. That's what a despot - who wants to steal the taxpayers money to enrich his billionaire cabal - does. Watch USAID tonight."
Michael Schiffer, who previously served as assistant administrator of the USAID Bureau for Asia, wrote in an article on January 27: "To be clear, there is no such thing as a temporary pause. When an NGO, a small business, or an American company that receives U.S. government funding to implement U.S. foreign assistance is told to stop work, even for 90 days, that means people are fired, expertise is lost, and programs are shut down with no guarantee they'll start back up, even if they survive the review. It is difficult to exaggerate the reverberating effects of a stop-work order on the ability of such organizations and their programs to continue to function."
Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, said in an X post on Sunday: "Most governments don't want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up. While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements...Cutting this so-called aid isn't just beneficial for the United States; it's also a big win for the rest of the world."
What Happens Next
The fate of the agency is unclear. On Sunday, Republican U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Brian Mast said that he supported moving USAID under Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid reports the agency will fold into the State Department.
He emphasized the need for "appropriate command and control" of the agency.
A spokesperson for the State Department told Newsweek on Wednesday: "We are judiciously reviewing all the waivers submitted. The Secretary of State has the ultimate responsibility to ensure to protect America's investments."
Update 2/2/25, 4:14 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include Ocasio-Cortez's X post.
fairness meter
About the writer
Mandy Taheri is a Newsweek reporter based in Brooklyn. She joined Newsweek as a reporter in 2024. You can get ... Read more