Cut first, measure later: Watchdogs find problems across foreign affairs agency reorganizations

While the Trump administration overhauled foreign assistance spending as part of its cost-cutting efforts, a pair of new watchdog reports found that officials have been forced to walk back many of their cuts, including by recalling laid off employees, and have failed to properly track what they modified. 

The State Department last year laid off more than 1,000 employees as part of a reorganization at about the same time that it also took over many foreign aid programs after the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Government Accountability Office reported in an analysis published last week that officials were unable to produce data on changes to staffing and grants, leading to questions about the effectiveness of their decisionmaking. 

For example, auditors found that State, as of July, cannot account for how many contractors and non-citizen staffers who work at embassies that it employs. GAO said that these groups have historically made up the bulk of the department’s workforce. 

“According to State officials, State does not maintain staffing data in a way that allows generating comprehensive data on the composition of its workforce. In the past, State has reported comprehensive data on its workforce, including the number of locally employed and other staff,” auditors wrote. “Without readily available information on the size and composition of its workforce, State cannot be assured that it has the organizational capacity necessary to carry out its mission or to make informed decisions about its operations.”

While State has also canceled about 25% of its foreign assistance grants, contracts and cooperative agreements (nearly 4,300) as of March, totaling roughly $3 billion, GAO reported that there were many inaccuracies in the department’s grants management system. For instance, more than 4,000 awards (out of around 10,000) were categorized as active and terminated. 

Additionally, at the start of his second term, President Donald Trump signed a directive pausing foreign assistance for 90 days for a review to ensure that future spending aligned with his priorities. But GAO said that State officials were unable to provide guidance regarding how foreign assistance is assessed under the new criteria. 

The watchdog recommended that State correct any inaccuracies in its grant management system, figure out how to develop comprehensive data on its workforce and document standards for assessing the alignment of foreign assistance programs with administration priorities. Officials agreed with all three. 

U.S. Agency for Global Media

In March 2025, the president signed an executive order directing several agencies, including the USAGM — which oversees Voice of America, an international broadcaster that provides service in several languages — to eliminate their non-statutory activities and “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” But the inspector general for the State Department reported last week that USAGM’s “reduction in operations was done without a detailed analysis of the cost or the impact on the organization’s overall mission.”

USAGM in June 2025 sent reduction in force notices to more than 600 employees, but they had to be reissued two months later because of errors. It’s unclear if those layoffs will take effect because of an ongoing court case, but, as of July, more than 400 employees are on administrative leave at an estimated biweekly cost to the government of $3.2 million. 

Additionally, auditors found that officials are recalling staffers on “an ad hoc basis as agency needs were identified rather than based on strategic workforce planning.” For example, VOA Persian-language service employees were brought back after the war in Iran started. 

Auditors reported that the agency also:

• Canceled IT contracts that prevented it from running 24-hour cybersecurity monitoring and support service. Officials said that they are now reinitiating some of those contracts and hiring additional employees. 
• Lost the ability to “maintain key accounting processes and controls over accounting transactions or support an audit in a complete and timely manner" due to staff reductions. 
• Moved to a new location that employees warned would not meet agency requirements.  “After taxpayer resources were used to cover the costs of the move, USAGM found that, as reported by internal subject matter experts, the new building did not meet the agency's needs. As a result, USAGM moved again, returning to a building that it previously occupied.”

As happened at other agencies, the IG found that Department of Government Efficiency staffers often disregarded USAGM employee input during the reorganization. 

The president tapped Kari Lake, a former journalist and unsuccessful GOP Arizona Senate candidate, to be a senior adviser at USAGM. She’s accused the agency of financial mismanagement and spreading “fake news.” 

However Michael Rigas, a senior appointee in the State Department, is the acting CEO of USAGM. And Sarah B. Rogers, the undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, is the nominee for the permanent position.

The IG made several recommendations, including that USAGM determine what its “statutory minimum requirements” are, set measurable agency goals and develop a strategic workforce plan. Rigas concurred with all of the recommendations.