Representatives from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency threatened to call law enforcement on U.S. Agency for International Development staff who refused to give them access to the agency’s systems, according to a report.
Sources who spoke to CNN said two security officials resisted the attempt by DOGE personnel, who wanted to view personnel files and security systems, as well as classified information that requires a security clearance.
They held firm even amid threats from DOGE representatives that they would call in the U.S. Marshals.
John Voorhees, the agency’s director of security, and his deputy were subsequently put on leave.
Katie Miller, a spokesperson for DOGE, tweeted: “No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”
Her boss went on the offensive.
“USAID is a criminal organization,” Musk tweeted Sunday. “Time for it to die.”
Multiple reports have suggested President Donald Trump intends to close USAID and fold it into the State Department.
With a $50 billion annual budget, it is one of the largest development assistance and foreign aid agencies in the world. Musk’s DOGE, meanwhile, has been tasked with recommending federal spending cuts to the tune of $2 trillion.
USAID’s website went dark on Saturday, nearly two weeks after Trump put an unprecedented 90-day freeze on foreign aid when he took office on January 20.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has granted exemptions for several programs viewed as providing services that are a matter of life and death, such as those that offer food and medicine.
Rubio said Thursday that USAID programs are undergoing review to see if they are in the national interest. He did not mention the possibility of shuttering the agency, but did say the pause in foreign assistance has prompted “a lot more cooperation” from recipients.
Senior USAID staff were placed on administrative leave last week, while hundreds of contractors were furloughed or fired.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said the Trump administration’s crackdown on the agency was kicking off a “constitutional crisis.”
“A President cannot eliminate an appropriated federal agency by executive order,” he tweeted. “That’s what a despot—who wants to steal the taxpayers' money to enrich his billionaire cabal—does."
Republicans—including Trump during his first term, when he tried to slash the agency’s budget—have traditionally advocated for placing more State Department control over USAID.
Musk, on the other hand, was unequivocal about the agency’s fate, tweeting: “Live by executive order, die by executive order.”
The DOGE standoff with USAID officials marks the second time in a week that Musk’s initiative has set off alarm bells with career bureaucrats.
A Treasury official who refused to let Musk’s lieutenants access the department’s payment system was put on leave before he suddenly put in for retirement Friday.
