An anonymous employee at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said they and their co-workers have been “psychologically frightened” by recent actions by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The employee spoke to CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan on Saturday on the condition of anonymity out of fear of putting their family “at any more risk” than they’ve already been.
When asked to explain that “risk,” the employee said there was “absolutely” fear that DOGE workers or even Musk himself would share their private information.
“Well, I mean, at this point, DOGE members, including Elon Musk, have access to not just the data within the USAID world and the USAID system, which includes my personal email address, my Social Security number, my entire security file,” the employee said. “In that security file is every contact I’ve ever known, every country I’ve traveled to, every home address I’ve had.”
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They continued, “So no matter which way I look at it, my information is entirely compromised, and it’s in hands that I don’t know and don’t trust.”
Since the Trump administration announced plans to shut down the $40 billion agency, the employee said there has been palpable fear among her co-workers and their futures in USAID.
“The atmosphere of fear that was in the USAID building, which we’re no longer in, the atmosphere of fear, in terms of not knowing who was in the building, not knowing what their motivations were, not knowing if our emails or channels were safe, not knowing how to interpret these executive orders right around DEIA or administration priorities,” the employee said. “All of that created an atmosphere of massive insecurity. And so people have, I think, lost the ability to know what’s true for what’s not. At this point, everyone is really scared.”
The employee also criticized Musk for railing against the agency by calling it a “criminal organization” and a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”
“[T}o have this sort of, to be vilified by a billionaire who has decided that he’s unilaterally going to take help away from the poorest people in the world, and he’s doing it on behalf of the American people is particularly gross and horrifying. And I am angry. I am sad. I am devastated for my colleagues, for myself, for my family, and for the American people. It’s awful. It’s cruel. It’s gross, and it’s wrong,” the employee said.
One USAID staffer who wished to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital that 80% of staff across its bureaus learned they lost access to the agency’s systems last week, including travel, communications, classified information and databases — leading to questions about how to repatriate American citizens in some of the most dangerous places in the world should the need arise.
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Staffers also feel they were “left high and dry” and “have no idea what to do or where to turn” after being “abandoned by Congress and the government,” the source said, adding they felt the agency was “hostilely taken over by DOGE.”
Although DOGE and the Trump administration have been aiming to shut down the agency, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to put thousands of USAID workers on leave Friday.
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