Musk says USAID "beyond repair"

ArmInfo. Tech mogul and Trump ally Elon Musk said Sunday that it's time for the U.S. Agency for International Development "to die" - the latest sign that the Trump administration is about to eliminate or seriously restructure  the 64-year-old agency.

USAID "is a criminal organization," Musk, whom President Donald Trump  has tasked with leading a government efficiency group - DOGE - wrote  on X Sunday.

Two top security officials at the US Agency for International  Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after  attempting to refuse officials from Elon Musk's Department of  Government Efficiency access systems at the agency, even after DOGE  personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources  familiar told CNN.

According to sources, personnel from the Musk-created office  physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC,  and were stopped. The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and  threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the  sources said.

The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems  and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also  said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information,  which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know  are able to access.

Three sources told CNN that the DOGE personnel were eventually able  to access the headquarters.

The U.S. Agency for International Development's director of security  and his deputy were placed on administrative leave Saturday after  they tried to prevent employees from the Department of Government  Efficiency from accessing secure USAID systems, five sources familiar  with the events told NBC News.  The USAID systems the DOGE team tried  to access included personnel files and security systems, including  classified systems beyond the security level of at least some of the  DOGE employees, according to three of the sources. The systems also  included security clearance information for agency employees, two of  the sources said.

"No classified material was accessed without proper security  clearances," Katie Miller, who worked in President Donald Trump's  first administration and has since joined DOGE, said Sunday on X.   When USAID Director of Security John Voorhees and his deputy, Brian  McGill, refused to allow them in, the DOGE employees threatened to  call the U.S. Marshals, two of the sources said. The DOGE employees  were eventually able to gain access to the secure systems, according  to three of the sources, but it was not clear what information they  were able to obtain.

Elon Musk, the Trump-empowered tech billionaire and head of DOGE,  posted Sunday on X calling for USAID "to die" and accusing the  independent agency, without offering evidence, of being a "criminal  organization."

Trump said on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday that Musk  "is doing a good job" and criticized USAID as "run by a bunch of  radical lunatics."

"It's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them  out, USAID run by radical lunatics, and we're getting them out, and  then we'll make a decision," he said.

Early Monday, Musk announced on his X social media platform that he  and Trump were "shutting down" USAID, though the tech billionaire did  not say what legal authority he believed the White House has to shut  down a federal agency without congressional approval.

Democrats discussed that DOGE's attempt to access USAID records was  dangerous.

"Reports that individuals without appropriate clearance may have  accessed classified USAID spaces as well as American citizens'  personal information are incredibly serious and unprecedented," Sen.  Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the ranking member of the Foreign Relations  Committee, wrote to NBC News. "We are seeking immediate answers about  any implications for our national security and are bringing a group  of bipartisan Senators together on this as soon as the Senate comes  back tomorrow.

Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations  alleged in a Sunday letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio that  "security guards present at the facility were threatened when they  raised questions" about the DOGE workers seeking access.

Trump administration officials are actively discussing placing USAID  under the authority of the State Department, according to more than a  dozen current and former officials and sources familiar with the  discussions, NBC News has reported, a move that Democratic  prosecutors and legal experts have argued would violate a law adopted  by Congress establishing the agency.

The State Department, USAID and Musk did not immediately respond to  requests for comment.

On Saturday, the website for the agency, USAID.gov, went dark and  remained apparently offline Sunday evening, but a website for USAID  off the homepage state.gov is active.

More than 1,000 USAID employees and contractors, including more than  300 people in the Bureau of Global Health and 600 in the Bureau of  Humanitarian Assistance, have already been fired or furloughed in the  wake of the near-total freeze on the U.S. global assistance the Trump  administration implemented just over a week ago.

In the latest slashes to staff, the majority of the 125-person Bureau  for Legislative and Public Affairs was put on administrative leave  late Saturday, according to three sources directly familiar with the  actions, and several of the agency's communications staff members  were blocked from accessing internal systems to communicate with  staffers this week, another source said.

"No one feels safe to go anywhere near the Ronald Reagan Building,"  where USAID is headquartered, a USAID official told NBC News. "We  just had Elon Musk call us a criminal organization. Our security  chief was escorted out. We know we are being surveilled by DOGE."

According to official USAID data, since 1992 the United States has  invested approximately $3.3 billion in Armenia to support democratic  reforms, economic growth and sustainability, as well as to provide  humanitarian assistance.