Employee staffers at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) received an order to avoid their Washington headquarters on February 3, 2025 after Elon Musk disclosed that President Donald Trump approved closing the sixty-year-old organization. The employee notice validated the agency shutdown by stating that the closure order came directly from leadership at USAID.
Elon Musk made this decision through his leadership of a federal government review process as he collaborates actively with the Trump administration. Musk took to social media in the early hours of Monday to share details about his meeting with Trump which led him to assess USAID as being past its help point and calling its state “a ball of worms.” He declared officially that the organization will be terminated.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Musk waited until Saturday to receive clearance access from top USAID security officials John Voorhees and Brian McGill after placing them on leave for refusing the request. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) managed to access restricted information during Saturday February 1 even though it did not have proper security clearance. 
The USAID employee systems experienced a shutdown which prevented 600 staff from logging into their accounts during the night. The system users who remained logged in the network received automated messages about the headquarters shutdown. The action has sparked widespread employee discontent together with uncertainty about U.S. international aid program direction.
Musk’s aggressive approach has faced strong condemnation from billionaires who posted on X that USAID functions as a criminal organization. These developments represent a substantial growth in the federal agency reforms being performed through Trump-Musk cooperation.
