Editor’s note: Late on Friday, a federal judge issued a restraining order to pause some parts of the Trump administration’s attempt to shut down USAID. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a union representing federal workers. A hearing on the case is set for Wednesday, the New York Times reported.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) he leads are burrowing into the United States government, accessing highly secure information, firing federal employees, and attempting to shut down federal agencies. DOGE access to Office of Management and Budget databases and Treasury data, including the Medicare and Medicaid payment system, has already drawn lawsuits and court orders that temporarily limit those incursions. But perhaps the most immediately damaging of Musk’s actions so far is the rapid closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the decimation of America’s foreign aid sector.
USAID was created by President John F. Kennedy’s executive order in 1961 and later established as an independent agency by Congress. Only Congress has the power to abolish it. As a Congressional Research Service report issued Monday says, “Because Congress established USAID as an independent establishment (defined in 5 U.S.C. 104) within the executive branch, the President does not have the authority to abolish it; congressional authorization would be required to abolish, move, or consolidate USAID.” But that legal restriction hasn’t stopped Musk and his team of young DOGE engineers from placing federal employees on leave or firing them outright. The doors to USAID have been locked and all international staff have been instructed to close their missions and return home.
Charlie Warzel wrote in the Atlantic that Musk’s actions were “nothing short of an administrative coup.” At a protest denouncing the closure on Wednesday outside of the Capital, Sara Jacobs, a representative from California, called Musk’s actions “illegal” and “a coup.” USAID employees held signs denouncing Musk and chanted, “Stop the coup!”
Read the full article HERE on Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
