Rubio asks for ‘trust’ from USAID mission while agency is gutted

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asked USAID’s Guatemala mission director for “patience” and “trust” as the agency is dismantled, according to a transcript of an embassy event obtained by Devex. “The United States is not walking away from foreign aid. It’s not,” said Rubio, speaking at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday. “We’re going to continue to provide foreign aid and to be involved in programs, but it has to be programs that we can defend. It has to be programs that we can explain.” USAID missions will need to undergo rapid-fire reviews to ensure their programs align with President Donald Trump’s “America First” framework, Rubio said — stating that he’s hoping to choose which “specially designated programs” will survive at USAID by Friday. “I want to tell you that this is not about politics, but foreign aid is the least popular thing Government spends money on,” Rubio added. “I spent a lot of time in my career defending it and explaining it, but it’s harder and harder to do across the board — it really is.” According to the document, Rubio met with the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Tobin Bradley on Feb. 4. At 10 p.m. that night, Bradley requested a document “of how the USAID foreign assistance portfolio could support the America First framework,” and several staff members “pulled an all-nighter preparing that document, which was provided to Secretary Rubio the morning of February 5.” “It was actually because of the Ambassador, and the document you were able to pursue and provide him, and he was able to provide me, that gave us the idea that we should ask the same exercise be conducted by every Mission around the world so that intelligent decisions can be made between now and the end of tomorrow about how we’re going to pursue this moving forward,” said Rubio, according to the meeting transcript. That’s despite the fact that across USAID, staff members have been locked out of USAID systems while trying to do just that. By midnight on Friday, nearly all the agency’s direct hires will be placed on administrative leave, a move that seemed like the final gutting of what used to be the world’s largest bilateral donor. “I was working on a similar task yesterday to justify our work in alignment with America First,” said a USAID staffer on a different team, who spoke to Devex hours after they’d been locked out of their account. “I was cut off before I could even submit it.” For the Guatemala mission, that means prioritizing the prevention of migration and drug trafficking, and “strengthening the institutions that have to confront that and the corruption that comes with it.” Rubio also said U.S. assistance could be used to help the Guatemalan government improve their border security measures, identify “precursors of fentanyl,” and “reintegrate people back into society that we’re going to be sending them.” The goal, Rubio said, was to ensure programs align with the government’s aims — faulting USAID staff that were “almost inviting themselves to be getting in trouble so they can make a news story out of it.” He said “some people in the office” were pushing through payments despite being told not to, though Devex has not heard of any money flowing through USAID’s financial system since the foreign aid freeze began. “It has to be done in a way that’s transparent, and we weren’t getting those answers,” said Rubio. “We just weren’t, at least not from the top down. So now we’re going to have to pursue it from the bottom up.” In 2023, USAID channeled $178 million to Guatemala, a quarter of which went toward economic development programs, and one-fifth toward democracy, human rights, and governance work. With the hollowing out of USAID staff — and the notice that all direct hires will be placed on administrative leave by midnight on Feb. 7 — it’s unclear how exactly that work will shift toward “America First” priorities, or who will be left to see such a transition through. “We realign every time there is a change in administration,” the USAID staffer told Devex. “Our work always has to be aligned with whatever the president and Congress wants. We’re not used to being given mere hours to realign, and then getting locked out and not being able to articulate why x program is important and should continue.” During Wednesday’s meeting, Rubio also mentioned the notice that went out to staff the previous night, which stated nearly all direct hires would be placed on administrative leave by midnight on Feb. 7. There was an exception made for those responsible for “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designed programs,” he pointed out — and it seems those specially designed programs will be those aligned to the “America First” agenda. Over the next 36 to 48 hours, Rubio said he hoped to define what those “specially designed programs” are. That’s just before the Feb. 7 cut-off, when thousands more USAID employees will be severed from the agency. “I know it’s hard to ask for patience. I know it’s hard to ask for trust, because you’ve never met me before” Rubio told Haven Cruz-Hubbard, who has been at the agency for more than two decades. “I’ve never been in charge of the State Department. I’ve never been acting USAID Administrator before.” His goal, he added, was to align USAID programs with the country’s “missions.” “We’re just going to have to do it a little faster than we thought,” Rubio pointed out.