Once a Cold War-era powerhouse for U.S. diplomacy, the U.S. Agency for Global Media has been gutted under a Trump executive order — slashing 1,400 jobs, or 85% of its workforce — in a move Kari Lake calls a win for taxpayers and critics warn is a death knell for press freedom.
Lake, senior adviser to the agency, said the cuts fulfill the March 14 directive from President Donald Trump to shrink the federal workforce and eliminate non-essential operations. “This is a decisive action to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,” Lake said Friday, calling USAGM “bloated, unaccountable” and plagued by “dysfunction, bias and waste.”
Trump Admin Senior Advisor @KariLake announces mass terminations at US Agency for Global Media⤵️
“USAGM now operates near the statutory minimum; lean and focused. This is a clear example of responsible government—cutting waste, restoring accountability, and delivering on the… pic.twitter.com/MpO2YOcIOF
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) June 20, 2025
Only 250 employees remain across USAGM and its affiliates, including Voice of America, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Radio Free Asia. The latest round included 639 layoff notices, following earlier buyouts and retirements. No OCB employees were terminated, though staffing was capped.
Lake also terminated a $250 million lease for a Pennsylvania Avenue media facility, which the agency says lacked proper studio space. She is set to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee next week regarding what the agency describes as years of “self-dealing and national security failures.”
But journalists and press advocates say the move silences independent reporting and undermines U.S. credibility abroad. “This spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism,” said VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called it “a dark day for the truth.”
A federal judge earlier blocked parts of the agency’s dismantling, calling the moves “arbitrary and capricious.” Legal challenges are ongoing.
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