The Security Director of the US Agency for International Development and his deputy were placed on administrative license on Saturday after they tried to prevent employees from the government efficiency department from accessing Segus Ustems Systems, five familiar sources said With events to NBC News.
USAID systems, the Doge team tried to access including personnel files and security systems, including classified systems beyond the security level of at least some of Doge employees, according to three of the sources. The systems also included security authorization information for the agency’s employees, two of the sources said.
“The classified material was not accessed without adequate security authorizations,” said Katie Miller, who worked at the first administration of President Donald Trump and since then joined Doge, said Sunday in X.
When Usaid Security Director John Voorhees, and his deputy, Brian McGill, refused to allow them to enter, the EGE employees threatened to call the US marshal, two of the sources said. Doge employees could finally obtain access to safe systems, according to three of the sources, but it was not clear what information could obtain.
Elon Musk, the technology billionaire and the head of Doge, with Trump’s employee, published Sunday in X asking us to use “die” and accuse the independent agency, without offering evidence, of being a “criminal organization.”
Trump said in the asphalt at the Andrews joint base on Sunday that Musk “is doing a good job” and criticized Usaid as “directed by a lot of radical crazy.”
“It has been directed by a lot of radical lunatics, and we are taking them out, Usaid directed by radical lunatics, and we are taking them out, and then we will make a decision,” he said.
But the Democrats argued that Doge’s attempt to access the USAID records was dangerous.
“The reports that people without appropriate authorization may have accessed the Usaid classified spaces, as well as the personal information of US citizens, are incredibly serious and unprecedented,” wrote Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Dn.H., member of classification of the Foreign Relations Committee, A NBC News A NBC News. . “We are looking for immediate answers about any involvement for our national security and we are gathering a group of bipartisan senators in this as soon as the Senate returns tomorrow.”
Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations alleged in a letter from Sunday to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “the security guards present in the installation were threatened when they raised questions” about the duo workers who seek access.
The Trump administration officials are actively arguing Usaid under the authority of the State Department, according to more than a dozen current and previous officials and sources familiar with discussions, NBC News reported, a movement that Democratic legislators and Legal experts have argued that they would violate a law adopted by the Congress established by the agency.
The State Department, USAID and Musk did not immediately respond to comments requests.
On Saturday, the agency’s website, USAID.gov, darkened and apparently remained offline on Sunday night, but a website for USAID off the home page state.gov is active.
More than 1,000 employees and contractors from USAID, including more than 300 people in the Global Health Office and 600 at the Humanitarian Assistance Office, have already been fired or detached following the almost total freezing in the global assistance of the United States , the Trump administration. implemented just over a week ago.
In the last bases for the staff, the majority of the office of 125 people for legislative and public matters were put on administrative license on Saturday night, according to three sources directly familiar with the actions, and several of the members of the communications staff The agency were blocked to access internal systems to communicate with employees this week, said another source.
“Nobody feels safe to be close to the Ronald Reagan building,” where Usaid is headquarters, said a USAID official to NBC News. “We have just made Elon Musk call us a criminal organization. Our security chief was escorted. We know that Doge is monitored. “