Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old DOGE affiliate, was handed authority over USAID by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 18, 2025, despite having no background in government or foreign aid. Internal emails reviewed by WIRED show that for weeks afterward, USAID staff had no documentation of his employment, and security couldn't issue him an ID because no records existed. During this period he nonetheless canceled aid programs and signed off on mass staff terminations.
wired.com
· 2026-10-27
In a new interview, filmmaker Alex Gibney, director of the documentary 'Musk,' said Musk's abrupt dismantling of USAID led to roughly 500,000 child deaths within a year, citing data tied to a 2025 Lancet study estimating up to 14 million deaths overall by 2030 from the funding freeze. Gibney called the cuts 'a crime against humanity' and rebuked Musk for joking that he 'put USAID into the woodchipper.'
futurism.com
· 2026-10-21
Federal agencies are screening roughly 200 terms—including equity, climate change and gender—to review grants for alignment with the Trump administration's research priorities. The administration cut about $3 billion in grants in 2025, with roughly $1.4 billion from the NIH and NSF still frozen or cancelled, while USAID's closure eliminated about $25 billion in international research and aid funding. Scientists have responded by seeking private donations, crowdfunding, shifting research focus, or pursuing interdisciplinary collaborations to keep projects alive.
nature.com
· 2026-10-19
GoKawiil