Yasin Gungor
30 September 2026•Update: 30 September 2026
Sweeping cuts to the agency overseeing Voice of America weakened US broadcasting during international crises and damaged US interests, a State Department watchdog said.
The Office of Inspector General said the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) rushed to slash operations without adequate planning or cost analysis after President Donald Trump ordered it to scale back in March 2025.
The cuts reduced the agency’s ability to inform audiences worldwide and counter disinformation in countries with restricted access to independent news, according to the evaluation, which was published last week and publicized Tuesday.
“The reduction in operations diminished USAGM's capacity to fulfill its core statutory mission of informing, engaging, and connecting people worldwide in support of freedom and democracy,” the report said.
The watchdog said leadership bypassed established procedures for managing organizational changes and acted within 24 hours of Trump’s executive order, without sufficiently considering the reforms or using “reliable data or evidence to inform its decision making.”
The consequences became apparent during the June 2025 strikes on Iran. When Voice of America sought to restart its Persian-language service, only two employees remained, including one who did not speak Persian, according to the report.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which receives core federal funding from USAGM, likewise suspended transmissions across 27 languages in 2025 due to funding cutoffs, halting Ukrainian and Russian programming.
“Decreasing the number of broadcasting languages may lessen USAGM’s impact on advancing U.S. national interests, supporting democratic values and countering disinformation in closed societies,” it added.
The evaluation said that protracted legal challenges left 420 employees on paid administrative leave as of July 2026, costing taxpayers $82.8 million annually.
Federal courts ruled the mass dismissals unlawful and ordered staff reinstated, but operations had not been fully restored, the report added.
Trump’s March 14, 2025 executive order directed USAGM to eliminate functions not required by law and reduce its remaining activities and staffing to the legal minimum.
