Five people with knowledge of the situation told NBC News that the director of security for the U.S. Agency for International Development and his deputy were placed on administrative leave on Saturday for attempting to bar Department of Government Efficiency staff from using safe USAID systems.
According to three of the individuals, the DOGE team attempted to access USAID networks that included security systems and personnel files, including classified systems that were outside the security level of at least some DOGE employees. According to two of the sources, the computers also contained information about agency employees’ security clearances.
“No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances,” Katie Miller, who has since joined DOGE and served in President Donald Trump’s first administration, stated on X on Sunday.
According to two of the individuals, the DOGE staff threatened to call the U.S. Marshals when USAID Director of Security John Voorhees and his deputy, Brian McGill, refused to let them in. According to three of the sources, the DOGE staff eventually managed to access the encrypted systems, but it was unclear what data they were able to view.
The head of DOGE and a tech mogul backed by Trump, Elon Musk, tweeted on X on Sunday, asking for USAID “to die” and accusing the independent agency of being a criminal organization without providing any supporting documentation.
According to Trump, Musk “is doing a good job” on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday. He also called USAID “run by a bunch of radical lunatics.”
“It s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we re getting them out, USAID run by radical lunatics, and we re getting them out, and then we ll make a decision,” he stated.
Democrats, however, contended that DOGE’s attempt to obtain USAID information was risky.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the top member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told NBC News that “reports that individuals without appropriate clearance may have accessed classified USAID spaces as well as American citizens’ personal information are incredibly serious and unprecedented.” “We are seeking immediate answers about any implications for our national security and are bringing a group of bipartisan Senators together on this as soon as the Senate comes back tomorrow.”
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations claimed that security personnel at the facility were intimidated when they questioned the DOGE employees who were requesting access.
More than a dozen current and former officials and sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News that Trump administration officials are actively considering transferring USAID’s authority to the State Department. Democratic lawmakers and legal experts have argued that this would be against a law passed by Congress that established the agency.
Requests for comment were not immediately answered by Musk, USAID, or the State Department.
The agency’s website, USAID.gov, went dark on Saturday and appeared to be offline on Sunday night; however, the USAID website, state.gov, is still operational.
Following the Trump administration’s nearly complete freeze on U.S. foreign aid just over a week ago, more than 1,000 USAID staff members and contractors—including more than 300 in the Bureau of Global Health and 600 in the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance—have already been let go or placed on furlough.
Several of the agency’s communications staff members were prevented from using internal systems to communicate with staffers this week, according to another source, and the majority of the 125-person Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs was placed on administrative leave late Saturday as part of the most recent staff cuts.
According to a USAID official who spoke to NBC News, nobody feels comfortable going anywhere close to the Ronald Reagan Building, which houses USAID’s headquarters. Elon Musk recently referred to us as a criminal enterprise. Our chief of security was led away. We are aware that DOGE is monitoring us.