Mast says he would support moving USAID into State Department
Two top security officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development have been placed on administrative leave, the latest in a series of suspensions and layoffs at the American government’s primary humanitarian aid agency.
President Trump is considering dramatic changes to USAID, as advisers examine where there’s overlap with other agencies or where its spending runs counter to the president’s stances.
USAID Director for Security John Vorhees and Deputy Director for Security Brian McGill were put on leave Saturday night, two sources confirmed to CBS News.
Two sources told the Associated Press that move came after the two officials refused to allow personnel from the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access classified material in restricted areas. DOGE spokesperson Katie Miller did not respond to requests for comment, but did repost the AP article on X with the comment, “No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”
Vice President JD Vance is in charge of figuring out next steps for USAID reform, per one person familiar with Trump’s decision. A spokesperson for Vance declined to comment.
Mr. Trump told reporters Sunday night upon returning to Washington, D.C., from Palm Beach, Florida, that USAID has been run by “a bunch of radical lunatics.”
“We’re getting them out,” he said, “and then we’ll make a decision.”
No executive order was imminent — officials are still in the planning phase, sources said last week. But the president is interested in reforming the agency, they said.
One option is to possibly fold it into the State Department, but other possibilities are on the table, two sources told CBS News.
Republican Rep. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which provides oversight of the State Department, said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that USAID is “likely going to be rolled more closely under Secretary Rubio.” USAID already reports to the Secretary of State but the Trump administration is looking at ways to combine it or fold it into the State Department.
Mast did not detail what specific changes will be made but indicated that he intends to initiate changes via Congress as well. USAID was established in 1961 by an act of Congress.
“I would be absolutely for, if that’s the path we go down, removing USAID as a separate department, and having it fall under whether the other parts of the United States, Department of State, because of its failure,” Mast claimed on “Face the Nation.”
Margaret Brennan is moderator of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” She is also the Network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent based in Washington, D.C. and a contributing correspondent to “60 Minutes.”
