Pete Marrocco, the official who oversaw the demolition of USAID, has now parted ways with the agency.
Working in the defense, state and commercial sectors, Marrocco was known as a conservative firefighter with deep skepticism of foreign aid. His tenure sparked fierce protests on Capitol Hill and celebrated his departure, but drew sharp criticism from Democrats who said questions remained about the future of US foreign aid.
“Pete was raised in the state on a major mission to carry out a thorough review of every dollar spent on foreign aid,” the senior administrator said of the departure. “He implemented that historic challenge and exposed the terrible abuse of taxpayer dollars. We all hope that there will be something big for Pete on his next mission.”
After President Donald Trump merged USAID with the State Department, Executive Director Marco Rubio appointed Marrocco as deputy manager of the agency, and he ran down the USAID office for work, with $40 billion and 10,000 employees.
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Pete Marrocco, the official who oversaw the demolition of USAID, has now parted ways with the agency. (Reuters/Kent Nishimura/File Photo)
Of the agency’s 6,000 programs, Rubio said last week in a podcast with Donald Trump Jr. that only around 900 programs are still operating now.
In the past, USAID did not stick to State Department authorities and “do whatever they wanted,” Rubio said.
In a RealClearpolitics operation on March 19, Marocco argued that US foreign aid “creating a global welfare state, committing unwelcome political intervention, encouraging unsustainable international trade unions (Communism), reducing our ability to flourish in the modern world economy, and encouraging international organizations funded by international organizations that captivate our great nations.
Marrocco learned later last week that he would no longer be employed by the State Department, sources told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
Pete Marrocco was the subject of the protest at Capitol Hill. (Reuters/Kent Nishimura)
USAID is currently run by Doge officials.
The Democrats celebrated the departure of Marrocco. Senator D-Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, a ranking member of the Budget Committee’s State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, said Marocco “has brought illegal policies to the State Department to reckless and illegal policies and dismantled US foreign policies.”
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“At his exit, there are still serious questions about the impact he has left and whether Secretary Rubio is planning to take action to advance the mission and credibility of the United States,” Schatz added.
A US Marine Corps veteran who earned a master’s degree in international humanitarian law from Oxford University worked in USAID’s transition initiative in 2020 and was the subject of a 13-page memo posted on the Opposition Channel, where employees warned that their operational capabilities and strategic effectiveness are improving quickly under his leadership.
Supporters of foreign aid were furious at Pete Marrocco’s role in dismantling many foreign aid projects in the United States. (Reuters/Kent Nishimura)
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The memo said Marrocco wanted to personally approve all spending over $10,000 on a $225 million budget.
“He used to use the routine management process to resume previously approved plans, interrogate and redirect programs in the country, halting programs, procurement and people’s movements, and inject uncertainty into everyday operations and office planning,” the memo says. “Interaction is urgently needed.”
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