Soon after Elon Musk called for shutting down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the agency charged with delivering humanitarian assistance overseas, Indian-origin CEO of Perplexity AI Aravind Srinivas has thrown an open challenge to the Tesla founder.
“Considering raising $500B from USAID. Funding secured. Stop me if you can @elonmusk,” Srinivas posted on X tagging the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Calling for the shut down of the agency, Musk had alleged that USAID funding had been used to launch deadly programmes and called it a “criminal organisation.”
What is USAID?
Established by then-president John F. Kennedy during the Cold War and provides humanitarian aid to over 100 countries. Kennedy saw USAID as a more efficient way to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance and saw the State Department as frustratingly bureaucratic at doing that.
USAID was set up under the Foreign Assistance Act as an independent agency in 1961. It outlived the Soviet Union, which fell in 1991. Today, the agency is largely seen as a move to counter Russian and Chinese influence. However, critics see it as a programme to promote a liberal agenda.
The agency provides financial assistance to many welfare activities in the sub-Saharan African and Latin American regions. The U.S. spent about roughly $40 billion in foreign aid in the 2023 fiscal year, according to a report published last month by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Trump's offensive against USAID
Soon after his inauguration on January 20, Trump executed a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance. The US president termed the agency as “corrupt".
Four days later, Peter Marocco — a returning political appointee from Trump’s first term — drafted a tougher than expected interpretation of that order, a move that shut down thousands of programmes around the world and forced furloughs and layoffs.
According to reports in Reuters, the Trump administration plans to keep fewer than 300 staff at the USAID. The newly inaugurated Donald Trump administration is working on merging the agency with the State Department as almost all workers have been pulled from their jobs. The State Department is overseen by Marco Rubio, who Trump appointed as acting administrator of the agency.
Earlier, the US administration revealed details of how the USAID funded “ridiculous” projects over the years. Taking to X, Trump wrote, “For decades, USAID bureaucrats believed they were accountable to no one – but that era is over. President Trump is STOPPING the waste, fraud, and abuse.” Musk also reacted to the documents, saying, “Crazy waste of your tax money!”
Dozens of senior officials have been put on leave, thousands of contractors laid off, and earlier this week, employees were told not to enter its Washington headquarters. Meanwhile, USAID’s website and its account on the X platform have been taken down.
As of midnight on Friday, February 7, “All USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs,” the USAID website read.