USAID Workers Locked Out Following Musk’s Announcement of Agency Shutdown
Staff at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were locked out of the agency’s Washington headquarters on Monday after tech billionaire Elon Musk announced that President Donald Trump had agreed to shut down the agency.
A notice distributed to USAID workers revealed that around 600 employees were locked out of the agency’s computer systems overnight. Those who still had access to the system received emails informing them that, “at the direction of Agency leadership,” the headquarters would be closed to personnel on Monday, February 3.
This development followed Musk’s public statement that he had discussed USAID’s future with President Trump, who reportedly agreed with Musk’s assessment that the agency, after six decades of operation, should be shut down. Musk described USAID as “beyond repair,” claiming, “It’s not an apple with a worm in it; it’s just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing.”
Musk’s announcement was part of his extraordinary civilian review of the U.S. federal government, which has been approved by Trump. The situation escalated after USAID placed two senior security officials on leave for refusing to hand over classified materials to Musk’s government inspection teams.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) eventually gained access to the classified information, including intelligence reports. However, the USAID security officials, John Voorhees and Deputy Brian McGill, had initially refused access, citing their legal obligation to deny such a request due to Musk’s team’s lack of the necessary security clearance.
Musk responded to reports about the incident by calling USAID “a criminal organization” in an X post, adding, “Time for it to die.”
This dramatic turn of events highlights the ongoing tensions between Musk’s efforts to overhaul U.S. government agencies and the established structures within those agencies.
