WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The U.S. Agency for International Development has lost almost all ability to track $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid following the Trump administration鈥檚 foreign funding freeze and idling of staffers, a government watchdog warned Monday.
The administration鈥檚 fast-moving has left oversight of the aid 鈥渓argely nonoperational,鈥 USAID's inspector general鈥檚 office said. That includes a greatly reduced ability to ensure that no assistance falls into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in unstable regions or conflict zones, the watchdog said.
The Trump administration鈥檚 actions have 鈥渟ignificantly impacted USAID鈥檚 capacity to disburse and safeguard its humanitarian assistance programming,鈥 it said, also citing the risk of hundreds of millions of dollars in commodities rotting after .
The inspector general, however, also noted that it has 鈥渓ongstanding concerns about existing USAID oversight mechanisms.鈥
Meanwhile, the administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk continued their . The General Services Administration, which manages government buildings, told The Associated Press that it had stripped USAID from the lease on its Washington headquarters.
Staffers 鈥 some dressed in USAID sweatshirts or T-shirts 鈥 were blocked from going upstairs to their offices Monday. Guards, federal officers and officials stopped some from retrieving their belongings.
鈥淕o home,鈥 a man who identified himself as a USAID official told some staffers. 鈥淲hy are you here?鈥
The eviction from the building, which USAID had occupied for decades, follows a that would have pulled all but a fraction of workers off the job worldwide.
Two workers鈥 groups that sued over the targeting of USAID asked the court on Monday to find the Trump administration in violation of the judge's order, after some workers were still locked out of USAID鈥檚 systems.
The government's steps suggest it "intends to continue taking potentially irreversible steps to dismantle the agency鈥 before the court can issue a final ruling in the case, the employee associations said. Another hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
and , who runs what is billed as a cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have . But USAID has been hit hardest, with Trump and Musk accusing the agency's of being out of line with Trump鈥檚 agenda and wasteful.
A Trump appointee at the heart of the sweeping changes at USAID defended the shutdown of the agency in a court filing Monday, saying Trump officials have been faced with 鈥渘oncompliance鈥 and 鈥渋nsubordination鈥 from staff.
Peter Marocco, USAID's recently appointed deputy administrator, submitted an affidavit Monday in the lawsuit brought by employees' groups.
In it, he accuses USAID staff of stalling and resisting the administration鈥檚 funding freeze and what he described as a program-by-program review. Marocco said that made it necessary to pull all but about 600 staff off the job.
Trump signed an executive order Jan. 20 freezing foreign assistance, forcing U.S.-funded aid and development programs worldwide to shut down and lay off staff. Secretary of State said he had sought to mitigate the damage by and 鈥渓ife-saving鈥 programs.
But USAID officials and aid groups say neither funding nor staffing have resumed to allow even the most essential programs to start work again.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest humanitarian groups, called the U.S. cutoff the most devastating of any in its 79-year history. It said Monday that it will have to of people in 20 countries.
鈥淭he impact of this will be felt severely by the most vulnerable, from deeply neglected , where we are the only organization supplying clean water to the 300,000 trapped in the blockaded city of Djibo, to war-torn Sudan, where we support nearly 500 bakeries in Darfur providing daily subsidized bread to hundreds of thousands of hunger-stricken people,鈥 the group said in a statement.
In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier that aired Sunday before the Super Bowl, Trump suggested that he might allow a handful of aid and development programs to resume under Rubio鈥檚 oversight.
鈥淟et him take care of the few good ones,鈥 Trump said.
Aid organizations say the damage that has been done to programs would make it impossible to restart many operations without additional substantial investment.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols on Friday temporarily a Trump administration order that would have put thousands of USAID staffers on administrative leave that day and given those abroad just 30 days to get back to the United States at government expense.
While the judge ordered the administration to restore agency email access for staffers, the order said nothing about reopening USAID headquarters. Some staffers and contractors reported having their agency email restored by Monday, while others said they did not.
The inspector general advisory notice said the Trump administration's moves would cut 90% of the staff in USAID's Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs.
The cutoff of funds means that the monitors charged with making sure no U.S. aid in the Middle East or Central Asia reaches the Islamic State group, Hezbollah, the Houthis or Hamas have been told not to come to work, the watchdog said.
The watchdog office noted that it had pushed USAID last year to boost its training of agency staff to make sure that those monitors were properly screening for any such diversion of aid.
In Washington, some staffers said they came to the USAID on Monday offices because they were confused by conflicting agency emails and notices over the weekend about whether they should go in. Others expected they would be turned away but went anyway.
A USAID email sent Sunday night, saying it was 鈥淔rom the office of the administrator,鈥 told employees that what it called 鈥渢he former USAID headquarters鈥 and other USAID offices in the Washington area were closed until further notice.
