Some Department of Government Efficiency employees were barred from entering an African aid office in the latest clash between federal agencies and Elon Musk’s cost-cutting arm.
According to the Washington Post, DOGE employees and Pete Marocco, director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the State Department, visited the U.S. African Development Foundation headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to terminate employees. The roughly 50-person agency refused to allow them inside.
According to the Post, they left after attempting to enter the independent federal agency’s building for about an hour.
The USADF is an independent agency created by Congress in 1980 to invest “in African grassroots organizations, entrepreneurs, and small and medium-sized enterprises.” It currently operates in 21 African countries and has invested in more than 40.
At around 11.30 a.m., two “very young men” wearing backpacks told a security officer that they were foundation employees, but they lacked key cards and needed access to the building. The security officer then asked agency employees if they wanted to let the visitors in, but they refused, according to an official familiar with the situation.
The visitors’ descriptions were consistent with those of DOGE employees who had previously shown up at the building for an initial introduction, according to the Post. The aid workers were then made aware of DOGE’s plans to dismantle the agency.
When the security guard reported that the young men were threatening to call the US Marshals, his boss instructed him to let the visitors upstairs. The pair arrived on the foundation’s floor, but no workers let them in, as staff remained at their desks while the men roamed the halls before leaving around 12.30 p.m., according to the outlet.
A ProPublica reporter posted video footage online showing the backpack-wearing men and others in suits and ties standing near the elevators. It is unclear when Marocco and the others joined the two young men.
They threatened to return Thursday, flanked by US Marshals.
A day before the visit, agency President and CEO Ward Brehm informed a DOGE official that Marocco had planned to visit the building. According to The Hill, Trump is considering appointing Marocco, who is also the deputy administrator-designate at the United States Agency for International Development, to lead the foundation.
In the letter, Brehm explained his instructions to his staff for when he was away from the office: “In my absence, I have specifically instructed the staff of USADF to adhere to our rules and procedures of not allowing any meetings of this type without my presence.”
The president has the authority and responsibility to nominate foundation board members; however, “by law, no person may be seated on the Board until the President has made such a nomination and that nomination is confirmed by the Senate,” Brehm continued.
He is looking forward to meeting Marocco after being nominated and confirmed, he added. “Until these legal requirements are met, Mr. Marocco does not hold any position or office with USADF, and he may not speak or act on the Foundation’s behalf.”
The standoff comes weeks after Trump issued an executive order on February 19 calling for the elimination of a handful of foreign aid agencies, including the Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace, “that the President has determined are unnecessary.”
Days later, on February 24, Democrats sent a letter to Trump stating that only Congress has the authority to dissolve the African Aid Foundation.
“Eliminating this agency – or reducing its activities in an effort that would effectively eliminate it – would undermine U.S. leadership in the region and create a vacuum that adversarial powers would exploit to expand their influence, and undermine congressional intent,” the letter goes on to say. “If your administration believes changes to the mission or funding levels of USADF are necessary, such proposals must be submitted to Congress for legislative consideration, as required by law.”
