U.S. Agency for International Development
- Date:
- 1961 - present
- Related People:
- Samantha Power
News •
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), lead U.S. government agency working in more than 100 countries to promote global economic prosperity, advance food security, strengthen democracy, protect human rights, improve public health, and provide humanitarian assistance. The agency was established by U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy by executive order in 1961. Believing foreign aid to be misaligned with American interests and values, on January 20, 2025, U.S. Pres. Donald Trump issued his own executive order, calling for the pause and evaluation of all foreign aid. The move led to widespread disruption in aid work, including the activities of USAID. Subsequent actions and claims by the Department of State and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have signaled the possibility of the agency’s elimination. Legal challenges to the Trump administration’s actions are ongoing.
Founding
On September 4, 1961, President Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, in which the U.S. Congress declared:
A principal objective of the foreign policy of the United States is the encouragement and sustained support of the people of developing countries in their efforts to acquire the knowledge and resources essential to development and to build the economic, political, and social institutions which will improve the quality of their lives.
Nearly two months later, on November 3, 1961, USAID was established as an entity of the State Department by Kennedy in Executive Order 10973. With its creation, the agency brought together multiple foreign-assistance organizations—including the corporate Development Loan Fund and the International Cooperation Administration—into a single entity.
In signing the Foreign Assistance Act, Kennedy noted that the legislation’s purpose was not only the commitment of development funds to assist in economic and social progress but also to support “world-wide collective security arrangements essential to free world defense.”
In 1961 there was bipartisan consensus on the value of “soft power” as a tool for securing the United States’ safety. In comparison to military intervention—“hard power”—soft power focuses on influence and the creation of relationships. Kennedy and the U.S. Congress saw foreign aid funding as a matter of national security during an era of Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. In a speech to USAID overseas mission directors on June 8, 1962, Kennedy clearly articulated the importance of soft power:
The people who are opposed to aid should realize that this is a very powerful source of strength for us. It permits us to exert influence for the maintenance of freedom. If we did not, were not so heavily involved, our voice would not speak with such vigor. And as we do not want to send American troops to a great many areas where freedom may be under attack, we send you. And you, working with the people in those countries, to try to work with them in developing the economic thrust of their country, so that they can make a determination that they can solve their problems, without resorting to totalitarian control and becoming part of the Bloc.
In 1998 Congress passed the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act, which created USAID as an “independent establishment” outside the Department of State. USAID’s programs are funded by congressional approval.
Activities
USAID supports foreign aid projects that aim to champion democratic governance, sustainability, and human rights. The agency works in such areas as education and economic prosperity and is a leader in public health initiatives. USAID has contributed to the eradication of smallpox and the wild poliovirus in Africa, helped control the HIV/AIDS epidemic through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and combated infectious diseases through the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. USAID officials and aid workers have traditionally viewed global health work as critical to improving global economic opportunity and security. The agency conducts its activities in partnership with nongovernmental organizations, researchers and scientists, universities, corporations, faith-based organizations, and other humanitarian groups. USAID also provides military aid and humanitarian assistance in war zones, including during the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars.
USAID is not without its critics. A U.S. Government Accountability Office review published in 2024 warned of areas of potential fraud and corruption in such conflict zones as Nigeria, Somalia, and Ukraine. Others have questioned the economic value of foreign aid in general. (USAID’s budget in the 2023 fiscal year was $40 billion, equaling less than 1 percent of the overall federal budget.) In contrast, supporters point to the ongoing value of foreign aid to counter the influence of U.S. antagonists, notably Russia and China, the latter of which has its own massive global investment project, the Belt and Road Initiative.
Second term of Pres. Donald Trump
On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second administration, President Trump issued Executive Order 14169—Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid—which claimed that the country’s current foreign aid apparatus was “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.” The order began a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign aid activities and funding to allow for an assessment of “programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.” Four days later, the U.S. State Department suspended all existing foreign aid programs, with limited exceptions for emergency food assistance and military assistance to Egypt and Israel. On January 28 Secretary of State Marco Rubio expanded the temporary exemptions to include “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance.” Then, on February 3 Rubio named himself acting administrator of USAID in advance of a program-by-program review to determine which activities conformed with Trump’s executive order. Concurrently, USAID staff received orders not to report to the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, and Elon Musk, DOGE’s chief administrator, claimed on X (formerly Twitter), without evidence, that “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”
On February 6 workers from the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees sued the Trump administration, claiming that its plan to dismantle USAID without congressional approval was a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The following day U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a 2019 Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order halting the administration’s plans to reduce USAID’s global workforce from more than 10,000 to fewer than 300. The injunction, in effect through February 21, additionally stopped the recall of foreign service officials from abroad and prevented the administration from placing about 2,000 employees on leave while it also reinstated 500 others who were previously dismissed. On February 13 U.S. District Judge Amir Ali issued a ruling in a separate case, Global Health Council v. Trump, that granted the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order that blocked enforcement of Trump’s executive order and reinstated funding for foreign aid contracts while litigation proceeds.