Donald Trump reportedly fired the federal watchdog responsible for overseeing the US Agency for International Development (USAid) on Tuesday, one day after the independent inspector general issued a damning report detailing the impact of the president’s sudden dismantling of the agency.
Paul Martin, who was appointed by Joe Biden in December 2023, was dismissed in an email from Trent Morse, deputy director of the White House office of presidential personnel, seen by the Washington Post.
Martin found that “widespread staffing reductions across the agency … coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAid’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance”.
Reuters and the Associated Press also confirmed the news. A USAid official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Martin had been “removed from his position”. A US official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity added that the White House have given no reason for the firing.
The shuttering of USAid was one of the first steps taken by Elon Musk and the newly founded so-called “department of government efficiency”, a team within the White House created by Trump. USAid employs about 10,000 staff, with approximately two-thirds posted at the agency’s more than 60 missions overseas across multiple countries. Trump had called for nearly all of the agency’s employees to be put on administrative leave, and had placed 500 on leave last week, before a judge blocked the move Friday.
Among the effects of the sudden halt in the agency’s work Martin documented are more than $489m of food assistance at ports, in transit and in warehouses being at risk of spoilage or loss. He also noted that the agency had lost almost all ability to track $8.2bn in unspent humanitarian aid – affecting its ability to ensure none of it falls into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in conflict zones.
The agency requires that programs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria the West Bank and Gaza be vetted to ensure safe usage of US taxpayer funds. However, a lack of workers to vet the programs could lead to funding unintentionally being funneled into terrorist groups, according to the report.
Martin’s firing comes two weeks after Donald Trump fired 18 inspectors general, violating a law that requires the administration to alert Congress 30 days before taking such an action.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order requiring agencies to cooperate with the Musk-led team at “Doge” as it cuts federal staffing. Trump called USAid “incompetent and corrupt” as he tasked the Doge team with scaling down the agency.
The order notes that agency heads “will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law”.
USAid is the world’s largest donor of aid, supporting maternal health in conflict zones, clean water access, HIV/Aids treatments and more around the world. While its budget accounted for 42% of the humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024, it takes up less than 1% of the US federal budget.
Marina Dunbar and Robert Mackey contributed to this report
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