Elon Musk has revealed why his DOGE team targeted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Musk during an interview with Fox Business said that the strategy was to “follow the money” and challenge what he saw as significant financial waste and corruption.
“We started looking closely at USAID because they were completely violating the President’s executive orders to suspend foreign aid,” Musk explained
The billionaire raised concerns over USAID’s financial dealings, particularly the lack of oversight in the billions of dollars funneled to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). According to Musk, this situation had created a loophole that allowed fraud to flourish.
“What we saw there is just a tremendous amount of money being sent to NGOs, but actually it’s a scam,” Musk said. “This is one of the biggest sources of fraud in the world—government-funded NGOs.”

“This is a gigantic fraud loophole where the government can give money to an NGO and then there are no controls over that ngo. So they’ve given billions of dollars, in fact, we estimate tens of billions of dollars to NGOs that are essentially scams,” the Tesla CEO said.
Musk’s criticism of USAID aligns with the Trump administration’s broader efforts to cut wasteful government spending. He detailed his approach, talking about the transparency in DOGE’s operations. “When we get criticism, we say, ‘Of what? Which line do you disagree with?’” Musk explained. “We put all of the actions of the DOGE team on the DOGE handle. It’s transparent line by line.”
In the same interview, Musk also discussed his team’s efforts to reform the Treasury Department. They successfully recommended that payments from the Treasury be coded with congressional appropriation details, a simple step Musk believes could save taxpayers up to $100 billion annually, Musk claimed. “It’s basic stuff. Just doing that will save $100 billion a year,” he said.
Following the release of Musk’s recommendations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that over 80% of DOGE’s suggestions for USAID’s reform had been implemented. As part of this overhaul, Musk’s team, working alongside Rubio, played a crucial role in eliminating more than 5,000 of USAID’s 6,200 programs, citing concerns over their effectiveness in serving US interests abroad.
While some critics, including Democratic lawmakers, have challenged the legality of such cuts, arguing that they require Congressional approval, Musk and Rubio are pressing ahead with their agenda. USAID’s rapid shutdown has disrupted various international aid programs, sparking backlash from aid groups and former diplomats who warn that essential services, such as famine relief and disease control, have been put at risk.