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There’s a constant question that comes up whenever the discussion turns to the Trump administration: Who’s steering the ship? Yes, we know Donald Trump is, but he also has a whole crew behind him. So we delved into the players who have charted a new course for American foreign aid.
Also in today’s edition: The purge of USAID left behind thousands of people not only seeking work, but connection and community. Both are still alive and well.
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As America’s top diplomat, we know Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a key figure in steadying the ship — or sinking it, depending on how you view the aid cuts. But who else in the State Department’s Foggy Bottom headquarters in Washington, D.C., calls at least some of the shots?
It’s a rather unlikely cast of characters who don’t hail from traditional diplomacy. Take Jeremy Lewin, for example. The 28-year-old former staffer at the Department of Government Efficiency has played a central role in turning “America First” foreign assistance from a slogan into a reality by inking several high-profile private-sector deals, my colleague Michael Igoe writes.
Or take Silicon Valley vet Jacob Helberg, a former senior adviser to the CEO of tech giant Palantir Technologies, who is now charged with using economic statecraft and commercial diplomacy to counter geopolitical rivals and advance American dominance abroad.
Beyond Foggy Bottom, there’s Wall Street financier Ben Black, who was recently confirmed as chief of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation and is emblematic of the administration’s staunch belief that development should be tied to private investment and American self-interest.
Widening the aperture, we have Russell Vought, the budget-slashing head of the Office of Management and Budget — and for whom foreign assistance is a favorite target. After shelving billions of dollars in already-obligated funding in 2025, will he try to prevent even more development dollars from being spent in 2026?
It remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the people on this list are not so much salvaging what’s left from the wreckage of USAID; they’re remaking it. The question is whether it will function any better or worse than before.
Check out the visual story: The key players in ‘America First’ foreign aid (Pro)
ICYMI: 24 weeks, $4.7 billion spent — how aid has slowed under Trump (Pro)
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I can venture a guess that the thousands of USAID workers who were summarily fired in 2025 are not big fans of the folks on Michael’s list. The feeling’s probably mutual based on how acrimoniously everything went down.
Those hard feelings aren’t likely to fade in 2026 as legions of former employees continue their job hunts.
It’s a grueling process, so emotional support is key. There was an outpouring of it after the initial collapse of USAID, and while some of that has waned, there are still plenty of resources available to weary job-seekers.
“What’s emerging now isn’t just job boards. It’s deeper support for people who want to design a career that fits the life they want, not the other way around,” Kelsi Kriitmaa, a social impact coach and consultant, tells Devex contributing reporter Rebecca Root, who outlines a slew of support options in her article.
Perhaps among the most enduring is LinkedIn, where connections and community still thrive.
“There are a few LinkedIn accounts that have emerged, like Friends of USAID and OneAID … and these are almost like nonprofits that have been developed to help support former USAID staff, but also to keep a lot of the information alive,” says Joanne Sonenshine, a funding adviser to corporate sustainability leaders.
Other useful LinkedIn groups that have cropped up include Pivoting Parents, #FiredFed, and the Global Aid Alumni Marketplace.
Mental health support is another area that shouldn’t be overlooked, says Alexandra Shannon, who has been aggregating resources into the Public Service Support Hub, formerly known as USAID Hub.
“Some people go really inward and need to process and work through trauma because being laid off is extremely traumatic, especially when there’s no performance-related reason for it,” Shannon says.
“People are traumatized by what’s happened in the job market,” Kriitmaa adds, “and with this comes the question, ‘Do I even want to jump back into an organization or sector with this volatility? Should I pivot?’ These are really tough questions, and finding a community to unpack them together is crucial.”
Read: Impacted by the USAID job cuts in 2025? Check out these resources (Career)
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When is UNAIDS going to sunset, if ever? Good luck getting a firm answer on that.
There are various timelines floating around for the program — established in 1996 to better coordinate the AIDS response across the United Nations — to transition and integrate into the wider U.N. system.
So the UNAIDS board is setting up a working group to figure it out.
UNAIDS is composed of a secretariat in Geneva and a set of U.N. agencies that serve as cosponsors, my colleague Jenny Lei Ravelo explains. The funding crisis prompted angst about the organization’s future, including the potential closing down of the secretariat by 2030.
Then, in September, the U.N. secretary-general proposed sunsetting UNAIDS by the end of 2026, which received sizable pushback.
To help sort out the mess, the working group will present an interim report in June 2026, with final recommendations no later than the end of October.
This timeline is seen as a compromise between those pushing for a decision on UNAIDS’ future as early as June and those who’ve been cautioning against a rushed process.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed urged the UNAIDS board to provide guidance by June 2026, calling it “ambitious” but “achievable.”
“If you think this timeline to June is tight, you would be surprised what we are being asked to do in UN80,” she says, referring to reforms being instituted across the U.N. system.
But she adds that while the matter is urgent, “we’re not in a hurry to fail.”
“We do not consider a June date to be one on which the process should stand or fall. … If we can do better, let’s do better. If we can’t, then we can’t,” she says.
Like I said, good luck getting a firm answer.
Read: UNAIDS board launches new process for transition amid sunset calls
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Abortion may be legal in parts of West and Central Africa, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Now, pro-abortion advocates worry that the bilateral health compacts the Trump administration has signed with various African countries could make it even harder.
Research by Rutgers and the Centre de Recherche en Reproduction Humaine et en Démographie found that women and girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Cameroon faced barriers to safe abortions, including overlapping systems of law, health care, and social norms.
Will the administration’s health deals exacerbate the challenges? Jonna Both, a coauthor of the report, warns they could, especially considering the State Department consulted with local faith-based organizations — which tend to oppose abortions.
“What’s scary is that the U.S. government is having conversations with African governments where they try to re-establish some form of aid, but under strict conditions, and that’s where they could also bring in a lot of values, conservative values,” she tells Devex contributor Amy Fallon. “They could really make this crisis for women in those countries much, much worse.”
Unsafe abortion remains one of the leading causes of maternal death in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in an estimated 15,000 preventable deaths each year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Meanwhile, Rutgers says access to safe abortion care following sexual violence remained a critically under-studied area.
Read: Are abortion rights at risk as African governments negotiate with US?
Gaza is no longer classified as being in famine, but acute malnutrition rates remain high. [UN News]
The World Bank has greenlit $700 million in funding to help stabilize Pakistan’s economy. [Reuters]
The U.N. Security Council voted Friday to renew the mandate of its peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, amid ongoing conflict with M23 rebels. [Xinhua]
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