WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and the rest of the Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding an explanation of recent developments at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This includes recent reports that individuals who identified themselves as working for the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) requested unauthorized access to USAID’s main headquarters, American citizens’ data and classified spaces, and illegally demanded access to classified documents, creating a national security risk.
Senator Coons has long advocated to strengthen USAID given its vital role in advancing U.S. national security and global stability. He introduced the bipartisan Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act last year, aiming to increase and improve USAID’s collaboration with local partners when implementing humanitarian and development programs around the world. Until recently, he was the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations (SFOPS), responsible for overseeing USAID and our nation’s entire foreign aid spending.
“Congress established the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as an independent agency, separate from the Department of State, to ensure that we can deploy development expertise and U.S. foreign assistance quickly, particularly in times of crisis, to meet our national security goals,” the senators wrote. “For this reason, any effort to merge or fold USAID into the Department of State should be, and by law must be, previewed, discussed, and approved by Congress.”
“We received reports that individuals who identified themselves as working for the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE) accessed USAID’s main headquarters, including classified spaces,” the senators continued. “The potential access of sensitive, even classified, files which may include the personally identifiable information of Americans working with USAID, and this incident as a whole raises deep concerns about the protection and safeguarding of matters related to U.S. national security.”
“We request an immediate update about the access of USAID’s headquarters, including whether the individuals who accessed the headquarters were authorized to be there and by whom, whether all individuals who accessed classified spaces have active security clearances at the appropriate level, what they were seeking to access, if any [personally identifiable information] of American citizens was breached, and whether any review is underway regarding potential unauthorized access to sensitive personnel information and classified materials,” concluded the senators.
You can read the full letter here and below.
Dear Secretary Rubio:
Congress established the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as an independent agency, separate from the Department of State, to ensure that we can deploy development expertise and U.S. foreign assistance quickly, particularly in times of crisis, to meet our national security goals. For this reason, any effort to merge or fold USAID into the Department of State should be, and by law must be, previewed, discussed, and approved by Congress. Congress has also made clear that any attempt to reorganize or redesign USAID requires advance consultation with, and notification to, Congress.
Consistent with past precedent, we expect and welcome the Department of State’s and USAID’s engagement on any proposed organizational reforms, and other matters implicating congressional requirements.
While we continue to welcome such engagement, we write with deep concern about this weekend’s developments at USAID’s headquarters.
We received reports that individuals who identified themselves as working for the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) accessed USAID’s main headquarters, including classified spaces. While some of the individuals purported to have security clearances, it is unclear whether those who accessed secure classified facilities had proper clearance or what they were seeking to access. We understand that the security guards present at the facility were threatened when they raised questions. As members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, we had not been notified of any such visit to USAID by DOGE or other agency officials. Following this incident, the senior management of the Office of Security, which secures USAID personnel and facilities and safeguards national security information, were placed on administrative leave. The potential access of sensitive, even classified, files, which may include the personally identifiable information (PII) of Americans working with USAID, and this incident as a whole, raises deep concerns about the protection and safeguarding of matters related to U.S. national security.
We request an immediate update about the access of USAID’s headquarters, including whether the individuals who accessed the headquarters were authorized to be there and by whom, whether all individuals who accessed classified spaces have active security clearances at the appropriate level, what they were seeking to access, if any PII of American citizens was breached, and whether any review is underway regarding potential unauthorized access to sensitive personnel information and classified materials.