DOGE’s Foreign Aid Cuts Have Sparked ‘Total Chaos’ Around the World

Representatives from dozens of nonprofit organizations attending a major human rights conference in Taipei, Taiwan, last week woke up Thursday to devastating news. Over the previous night in Asia, the Donald Trump administration had abruptly announced it would end nearly 10,000 contracts and grants from the US State Department, including the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) as well as the US Agency for International Development, representing about 90 percent of USAID’s contracts overall. The announcement was the latest in a string of efforts by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to curtail foreign aid from the US, which has provided medical and humanitarian assistance to millions of people for decades. A letter sent from USAID to grantees viewed by WIRED instructed them to “immediately cease all activities, terminate all subawards and contracts,” and avoid incurring any additional expenses “beyond those unavo ... Read full article.