(CNN) — Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after attempting to refuse officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told CNN.
According to sources, personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, and were stopped. The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said.
The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access.
Three sources told CNN that the DOGE personnel were eventually able to access the headquarters.
The incident, which had not been previously reported, is the latest showdown as the Trump-affiliated DOGE seeks to exert increasing authority over the federal government as it aims to slash spending.
“Reports that individuals without appropriate clearance may have accessed classified USAID spaces as well as American citizens’ personal information are incredibly serious and unprecedented,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said Sunday. “We are seeking immediate answers about any implications for our national security and are bringing a group of bipartisan Senators together on this as soon as the Senate comes back tomorrow,” continued Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
On Sunday, in response to CNN’s report about the incident, Musk said that “USAID is a criminal organization.”
“Time for it to die,” he posted on X. It was one of many posts and reposts by the X owner attacking the agency on Sunday.
The condemnation from the tech billionaire underscores mounting reports that President Donald Trump intends to abolish USAID, an independent federal agency, and fold it into the US State Department. Other top Trump officials, such as Stephen Miller, who serves as deputy chief of staff for policy at the White House, have also taken aim at USAID, accusing its workforce of being overwhelmingly Democrats.
On Saturday, USAID’s website went dark and a new page for the agency appeared on the State Department website. USAID’s X account also went offline Saturday.
Shortly after being sworn in last month, Trump issued a sweeping executive order pausing all foreign aid for 90 days, leading to widespread confusion, layoffs and program shutdowns.
USAID Director of Security John Voorhees and his deputy are among dozens of USAID officials who have been put on leave amid fears that the agency is being intentionally dismantled — a move that some aid officials argue would have massive negative implications.
Democratic lawmakers have argued it would be illegal for Trump to unilaterally eliminate a federal agency without consulting Congress.
USAID was established in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy’s administration and is the US government’s humanitarian arm. It dispenses billions of dollars annually across the world in an effort to alleviate poverty, treat diseases, and respond to famines and natural disasters. It also promotes democracy building and development.
USAID is a key soft power tool of the US to foster relations with communities around the world, officials say, noting that US national security is approached with the “three D” pillars: defense, diplomacy and development, led, respectively, by the Defense Department, State Department and USAID.
Aid officials argue the State Department isn’t equipped to take over and sustain USAID’s vast number development projects. It would also erase, they argue, unique and essential soft power that can’t be replicated.
The State Department doesn’t “have the capacity, the expertise, the training to do that kind of work. It is a completely separate line of effort that is undertaken on the ground,” a former senior USAID official said.
“The one element of the US government bureaucracy on the ground in foreign places that has been able to get out beyond the wire and actually have a deeper understanding of the places in which we work is USAID,” the former official continued, requesting anonymity due to growing and widespread fears of being targeted by the Trump administration.
“That ability to work in that way, that culture — and it is a culture I think — gets lost. And with it, I think we lose an enormous, incredibly valuable tool of US foreign policy. We’re basically going to be punching with one arm behind our back,” the person said.
CNN has reached out to the White House and USAID for comment.
Around 60 senior USAID staff were put on leave last week on accusations of attempting to circumvent the executive order on foreign aid. Another senior official was put on leave for trying to reverse that move after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.
One source said the entire USAID public affairs office was put on leave and locked out of their systems.
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