Donald Trump Signs Executive Order To Dismantle Voice Of America’s Oversight Agency; Employees Put On Administrative Leave​on March 15, 2025 at 2:53 pm

Donald Trump is targeting the Voice of America and other U.S.-funded international broadcasting entities, as he signed an executive order Friday to eliminate the functions of their oversight agency. Employees were informed this morning that they were being put on administrative leave with pay, but must be available to work if directed to do so, […]Donald Trump is targeting the Voice of America and other U.S.-funded international broadcasting entities, as he signed an executive order Friday to eliminate the functions of their oversight agency. Employees were informed this morning that they were being put on administrative leave with pay, but must be available to work if directed to do so,   

Donald Trump is targeting the Voice of America and other U.S.-funded international broadcasting entities, as he signed an executive order Friday to eliminate the functions of their oversight agency.

Employees were informed this morning that they were being put on administrative leave with pay, but must be available to work if directed to do so, according to a memo obtained by the New York Times.

Trump’s order calls for the U.S. Agency for Global Media and other entities to “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” The order requires the head of the agency to submit a report in the next week “which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.”

In addition to the Voice of America, the U.S. Agency for Global Media oversees Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, among other entities. But Trump’s order may face limitations short of an act of Congress, which has through the years tried to shield the journalistic entities from political influence.

Voice of America is the best known entity among the broadcast entities, operating on a budget of almost $370 million. Trump had selected Kari Lake, a longtime loyalist, to lead the entity, but her appointment must be approved by the seven-member International Broadcasting Advisory Board. Instead, Lake has been serving as a special adviser, and she has attacked the VOA. In a message on X following Trump’s executive order, she wrote, “If you are an employee of the agency please check your email immediately for more information.”

In his first term, Trump targeted the Voice of America, raising fears that he would attempt to use the broadcast entity as his own personal propaganda engine. He selected Michael Pack, a documentary filmmaker, to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media. His tenure was tumultuous, as he fired the leaders of some of the broadcast entities and installed Trump loyalists. A 1994 international broadcasting law “prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news,” per the VOA.

This term, Trump has nominated E. Brent Bozell, a longtime conservative activist, to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, but he still faces Senate confirmation.

Trump’s executive order also called for the dismantling of other agencies including the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency.

The White House has said the agency cuts are part of Elon Musk’s effort to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy. But Trump is seeking legislation to extend his 2017 tax measures, which included a major drop in the corporate tax rate, as well as increased funding to carry out border control and mass deportations. The House passed a budget resolution last month to increase the deficit by $4.5 trillion over the next decade to help finance the tax cuts, but it also calls for reducing spending by $1.7 trillion over that time frame, per the Tax Foundation.