The reaction of some U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) employees when the Dept. of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came to their Washington D.C. office last week is raising more questions about the shadowy agency.
Contractor Kristina Drye, who is employed at USAID described to ABC News a scene reminiscent of the kind of mad scramble historically witnessed when a corrupt government has fallen and officials are desperately trying to get rid of evidence of wrongdoing.
ABC actually aired a USAID employee’s description of the scramble as DOGE rolled up to the office, and their hurried removal of woke iconography a la the documents burning scene in Downfall:
“@DOGE was in the building. We started — we took down our pride flags, we took down- I… pic.twitter.com/gSsx3H6Mgc
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) February 4, 2025
Drye described USAID employees taking down pride flags and removing books that she felt might be “incriminating” as well as how “no one was talking” as DOGE team members began their review of the operations of the agency that sends billions of taxpayer dollars abroad for a variety of reasons ranging from disaster relief to funding regime change.
She described her concerns over DOGE setting up automatic transcription of USAID employee Google meets and how, over the weekend, she lost access to work computer.
USAID’s Director of Security John Voorhees and his deputy Brian McGill were both placed on administrative leave after denying system access to DOGE employees who were eventually able to gain access to the secure systems in order to conduct their analysis.
Such actions seem out of place considering that USAID employees and managers have had since early November to anticipate the incoming Trump administration and the anticipated arrival of DOGE.
Hiding flags and books and attempting to prevent access to the systems that track secretive government payments lend more strength to the concerns about fraud expressed by Elon Musk than they do to claims that USAID is operating with full transparency and accountability.
President Trump ordered a 90 day pause in foreign development assistance via USAID while the DOGE team reviews that agency’s efficiencies and consistency with the new administration’s foreign policy objectives.
Judging by the squawking we’re hearing from those whose funding has been paused, the bureaucrats who have grown comfortable operating in secrecy are outing themselves in a very public way.
Stephen Miller just delivered the single most powerful EVISCERATION of USAID you will hear 🔥🔥
"There is probably no entity in the government that is more of an entrenched power center of unelected bureaucrats with less accountability, less oversight than USAID. They funnel… pic.twitter.com/B6V41XLFnb
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 4, 2025
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