Why It Matters

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) terminated approximately 6,780 of 7,510 foreign assistance awards between January 2025 and March 2026, representing $79.1 billion in cumulative obligations, according to a new audit from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The State Department, which absorbed USAID's remaining programs, now manages roughly $52.1 billion in active awards, but auditors found it lacks the documented guidance and complete data needed to make those decisions consistently or effectively.

Without documented standards, State officials may make incorrect assumptions about desired program changes, potentially wasting taxpayer money, triggering legal disputes, or the retraction of already-terminated awards.

The Big Picture

The United States uses foreign assistance to support strategically important countries, countries in conflict, and populations in need, and USAID historically provided more such assistance than any other agency. In January 2025, the President issued an executive order pausing U.S. foreign development assistance programs to assess them for programmatic efficiencies and consistency with U.S. foreign policy. Subsequent orders drove staff reductions and agency reorganizations across the federal government's foreign assistance apparatus.

State announced that USAID ceased administering foreign assistance awards as of July 1, 2025. USAID's workforce, which stood at roughly 13,600 staff worldwide in January 2025, had fallen to 241 staff by April, according to USAID and government-wide data.

The Europe and Eurasia region carried the highest dollar value of terminated USAID awards but still holds the highest dollar value of remaining active USAID awards, making it both the largest area of program loss and the largest remaining portfolio under State's management.

GAO examined changes to foreign assistance programming and staffing across nine selected agencies from January 2025 through May 2026, focusing on the extent to which those agencies developed and documented processes to guide their reviews.

The nine agencies were selected based on their identification within appropriations legislation for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs, as well as their exposure to certain executive orders. Auditors reviewed data, documents, and guidance from the agencies and interviewed agency officials about programming, funding, staffing, and decision-making processes.

All nine agencies GAO reviewed decreased staff, including both headquarters and overseas personnel, from January 2025 through May 2026. Eight of the nine agencies also decreased funding obligations for foreign assistance awards. One agency did not decrease the number of awards but has been unable to disburse funds to awardees since January 2025.

State was unable to produce staffing data for the 11 months GAO requested, leaving the full scope of its workforce reductions unknown. Without readily available staffing data, State cannot effectively plan for operational requirements, respond to risks posed by its staffing changes, or address oversight needs. State also lacks complete and accurate data about foreign assistance awards, grants, and staffing.

The Bottom Line

GAO issued three recommendations, all directed to the Department of State, and all three remain open. The Department of State agreed with all three recommendations.

The first calls on the Secretary of State to direct the Chief Acquisition Officer and Director of the Bureau of Global Acquisitions, along with other relevant programming bureaus, to ensure that the status of foreign assistance grants and agreements in the MyGrants database is consistent, accurate, and up to date.

The second directs the Chief Human Capital Officer and Comptroller, or another appropriate official, to take steps to ensure State can obtain or generate comprehensive data on the composition of its workforce, including Foreign Service, Civil Service, locally employed staff, and personal services contractors, by location.

The third asks the Secretary to ensure that the Director of the Office of Policy Planning, or another appropriate office, develops, documents, and communicates agencywide guidance with standards for aligning foreign assistance program and project decisions with foreign policy priorities.

State noted it can generate workforce data and said it will take GAO's recommendation on guidance into account for future planning cycles. No completion date has been confirmed for any of the three.

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