President of the United States (U.S.) Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at eliminating the parent organization of Voice of America (VOA) – the U.S. Agency for Global Media(USAGM), which is federally funded, along with six other federal agencies, marking the latest step in his administration’s efforts to reduce bureaucracy.
The order instructs agencies – mostly little–known entities, including one that funds museums and libraries and another dealing with homelessness – to reduce their operations to the legal minimum.
“This order continues the reduction of parts of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined to be unnecessary,” the order states.
Trump, who clashed with VOA during his first term, has chosen former TV journalist Kari Lake as the director of VOA in his second term. Lake, a loyal Trump ally, has frequently accused mainstream media of bias against Trump.
VOA, an international media organization operating in over 40 languages online, as well as on radio and television, is overseen by the USAGM. The agency also funds Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The order states that these agencies should eliminate all operations not codified by statute and “reduce the execution of their statutory functions to the minimal presence and function prescribed by law.” The order represents Trump’s latest move in reshaping federal bureaucracy, a task he has entrusted to tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency(DOGE).
So far, DOGE‘s efforts have led to the potential elimination of over 100.000 federal government jobs out of a total of 2.3 million employees, a freeze on foreign aid, and the cancellation of thousands of programs and contracts. Last month, Musk called for shutting down VOA and RFE/RL in a post on his social media platform.
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Kari Lake stated that while she understands calls to completely shut down VOA, she believes that VOA can improve its work. A few days ago, she canceled VOA‘s contracts with news agencies Reuters, AP, and AFP.
