USAID’s director of security, John Voorhees, has been placed on administrative leave after refusing to allow officials from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, access to the agency’s sensitive compartmented information facility, a secure area that protects classified information, according to several former USAID officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
DOGE staff members do not have the security clearances to review such information and are not legally qualified to access classified or sensitive information. In recent days, there’s been an uptick of fear across USAID staff as DOGE has entered the building — both literally and virtually — with many staff moving to Signal to avoid being tracked by the budget-slashing agency run by billionaire Elon Musk.
Voorhees is charged with ensuring USAID’s physical security, counterintelligence, and insider threat-related programs in Washington, D.C. He has led security at USAID since 2016, working through both the first Trump administration and the former Biden administration. Prior to his tenure at USAID, Voorhees had worked in the military’s criminal investigation division and served in Afghanistan.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
