US Secretary of State Rubio declares himself acting director of USAID - CNN
Kyiv • UNN
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio became the interim head of USAID and criticized the agency's work. A conflict arose at USAID headquarters over attempts to gain access to classified information.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that he is now acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This was reported by CNN, according to UNN.
Rubio told reporters that he had “delegated those responsibilities to someone else, but I'm in touch with them,” without specifying who it was. Previously, Jason Gray was the interim head of USAID.
CNN asked the State Department to clarify whether Rubio was referring to him.
While in El Salvador during his visit to Central America, Rubio criticized the work of USAID, calling it “a completely ineffective agency.
“Our goal was to align international assistance with U.S. national interests. But if you visit missions and embassies around the world, you will often see that USAID is implementing programs that are contrary to our national strategy for a particular country or region. This cannot continue,” Rubio said.
At the same time, when asked about the role of USAID in ensuring national security, he acknowledged that some of the agency's programs are important.
What's going on around USAID
These statements were made against the backdrop of comments by Elon Musk, who received a mandate to reform the federal government. Musk claimed that President Donald Trump had authorized the liquidation of USAID.
For some time now, lawmakers and humanitarian organizations have been expecting that Trump may close the agency entirely and transfer its functions to the State Department.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the USAID headquarters building was closedand employees were informed by email that they should stay home.
Over the weekend, two senior USAID security officials were suspended. According to CNN sources, they refused to provide access to the agency's systems to representatives of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), despite threats to bring in law enforcement.
According to three sources, DOGE employees attempted to access USAID security systems and personal files of employees.
Two of them also claimed that DOGE sought access to classified information that could only be viewed by individuals with the appropriate security clearance and a legitimate need.
