The absorption of what’s left of USAID into the State Department is entering a new phase and, notably, it looks like one of the key architects behind the restructuring won’t be part of it.
Also in today’s edition: While U.S. Institute of Peace staff and members of the Department of Government Efficiency didn’t come to physical blows over USIP’s fate, their confrontation was tense and emotional nonetheless. We have a behind-the-scenes look at the tug-of-war and how it escalated.
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Arriv-AID-erci, Pete
Is the dust settling on the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it demolition of USAID? We’re still wading into uncharted territory, but yesterday we found out that Peter Marocco, the controversial point person for USAID’s dismantling, is leaving as acting deputy administrator of the agency. Stepping into the mix will be a point person from the equally controversial Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
In an email sent on Tuesday, Marocco wrote that DOGE staffer Jeremy Lewin was now USAID’s deputy administrator for policy and programs, as well as the agency’s chief operating officer. Last month, journalists at The Handbasket found out that Lewin had, until recently, worked at the same law firm that employed Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States.
Marocco also announced that Kenneth Jackson, a recent political appointee at USAID, would be the agency’s deputy administrator for management and resources as well as its chief financial officer, my colleague Elissa Miolene writes.
As for Marocco, he’s returning to his original position as director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the U.S. State Department, a role that could continue to give him clout to influence the reconfiguration of USAID.
In his missive, Marocco noted that “Phase III of the foreign assistance review is officially underway. We will dive deeper into the analysis portion of the review to give Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio our recommendations.”
He also took a jab at the agency he overhauled: “It’s been my honor to assist Secretary Rubio in his leadership of USAID through some difficult stages to pivot this enterprise away from its abuses of the past,” he wrote. “Now that USAID is under control, accountable and stable, I am going to return to my post as the Director of Foreign Assistance to bring value back to the American people.”
Read: Peter Marocco departs USAID, remains at State Department
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A game of chess
A memo reportedly written by aides of U.S. President Donald Trump and seen by Devex has laid out a blueprint for the U.S. government to suggest how foreign aid should be redesigned under the State Department. The changes include renaming USAID as the U.S. Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance, with a “modified” U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. It also suggested the Millennium Challenge Corporation and U.S. Trade and Development Agency be brought under the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
The U.S. government should eliminate “traditional cost-plus, fixed-fee awards that pay out regardless of performance” and instead reward results and distribute aid through blockchain so that it’s secured, the memo reads.
“The new model would shift away from the ‘Beltway Bandit’ groups and United Nations agencies to favor private sector and non-profit entities with proven track records,” it continues.
It noted that foreign aid’s purpose should be to “provide geopolitical leverage for the President on the global chess board.”
Read: Memo lays out plan to replace USAID with new humanitarian agency
A very Washingtonian war
Security guards switching allegiances? Armed Washington, D.C. police? FBI agents knocking on doors for a “cordial conversation,” before threatening Department of Justice investigations? Computers and other pieces of furniture strewn across an office floor?
Honestly, what the hell is happening at the U.S. Institute of Peace? It’s been the site of a dayslong pitched battle between USIP staff and DOGE to seize the small nonprofit’s building in Washington, D.C.
In a perverse way, the determination exhibited by both sides has been impressive. The battle of wills is now playing out — surprise, surprise — in the courts, where USIP staff are suing DOGE employees, Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and others to prevent them from commandeering their government-funded nonprofit.
But the plaintiffs were dealt an initial defeat yesterday when a judge refused to issue an emergency restraining order that would have temporarily halted DOGE from taking over USIP.
The battle is — again, surprise, surprise — far from over. Both parties are expected to present expedited briefing schedules today.
In the meantime, Elissa has the inside story of how things escalated so quickly — and the account reads like a wartime siege.
“We beat them in several of the first rounds. But when they finally escalated to enough force, they were able to control the building,” says one USIP official. “I have never, in my professional capacity, experienced a situation like this.”
Read: US Institute of Peace and Elon Musk's DOGE battle for control of USIP
ICYMI: DOGE ‘breaks into’ the US Institute of Peace
DOGE charger
USIP is not the only one fighting the Trump administration to stay alive. Last month, the U.S. African Development Foundation was lumped in with USIP and two other entities when Trump declared them “unnecessary.”
That presaged another chaotic showdown at the Washington, D.C. office of USADF (like I said, the determination is impressive). Marocco and DOGE wound up taking control of the office, and USADF employees wound up hauling them to court.
Unlike USIP though, USADF has had some luck in the courts, although the outlook is still highly uncertain.
A week ago, a federal judge said he could find no statute that gave Trump authority to appoint Marocco as head of USADF. Despite this, USADF staff on Tuesday began receiving letters from Marocco, asserting his role by stating that he was placing full-time employees on immediate administrative leave.
“During the period that I have you on administrative leave, I prohibit you from entering ADF premises, accessing ADF systems, or attempting to use your position or authority with ADF in any way without my prior permission or the prior permission of a supervisor in your chain of command,” wrote Marocco in the memo, which was obtained by Devex.
Marocco signed the letter as USADF’s acting chief executive officer and president, seemingly elevating himself from a previous appointment made by Trump late last month.
“We have pointed out multiple times that the judge has not recognized Mr. Marocco’s authority,” says one staff member. Still, the staffer said they are treading carefully
“We want to be cautious, and we don’t want to antagonize Mr. Marocco any further,” the staff member says, adding that USADF’s employees had been told to heed Marocco’s administrative leave requests. “We’ll wait to hear what the courts decide.”
Read: Staff at the US African Development Foundation placed on leave
ICYMI: Judge rejects USADF chief’s bid to block Trump’s leadership shake-up
Background: Trump to scrap US African Development Foundation, US Institute of Peace
The other aid freeze
Aid has also been severed to the Gaza Strip, although this emergency isn’t related to the U.S. aid cuts. Rather, it comes alongside a renewed Israeli bombardment that killed 400 people this week and broke a tentative two-month ceasefire.
During that ceasefire, aid surged into the territory, and while aid workers on the ground say it still wasn’t enough, the recent attacks have put an end to even that. Now, employees of Mercy Corps tell my colleague Jesse Chase-Lubitz that there are “no aid operations in the field.”
“There are no safe areas,” one Mercy Corps aid worker says.
To underscore that point, yesterday, a U.N. staff member was killed and five others injured during a strike on accommodations for the Gaza operation of the United Nations Office for Project Services, or UNOPS. “These premises were well known by the Israel Defense Forces and they were deconflicted,” says Jorge Moreira da Silva, the agency’s executive director.
With the ceasefire in tatters, aid workers tell Jesse they feel like they’re back to square one.
Read: Gaza aid workers say there are ‘no aid operations in the field’
In other news
The U.K. is hosting a closed-door meeting with over 20 countries from the “coalition of the willing” to strategize peacekeeping moves for Ukraine. [BBC]
Finland tops the World Happiness Report for the eighth consecutive year, while the U.S. falls to a record-low 24th position, and Afghanistan remains the unhappiest nation. [France 24]
Federal budget cuts under U.S. President Donald Trump have left commercial fishers and seafood businesses without funding to transition to lower-carbon emission systems. [AP]
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About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
