Former Arizona candidate and current senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Kari Lake, has eliminated 1,400 positions from the agency ahead of her testimony to Congress on Wednesday.
According to Politico, the massive personnel cut represents an 85 percent reduction from March when President Donald Trump signed an executive order to restructure the agency. According to Lake’s Friday memo, only 250 employees now remain at USAGM, which oversees Voice of America and other international broadcast outlets.
“We are fighting an information war, and there’s no better weapon than the truth, and I believe VOA can be that weapon,” Lake said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, shortly before her appointment as senior adviser to the agency.
The agency faces major financial changes and restructuring
The agency is also taking back $17 million previously given to international broadcast stations and moving it to “mission support.” Lake has also ended the agency’s lease of a Washington office building to cut costs.
Lake will appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee for a hearing titled “Spies, Lies, and Mismanagement: Examining the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s Downfall.” She plans to discuss what she calls the agency’s history of waste, poor management, and national security failures.
"This place is rotten. It's rotten to the core. President Trump has asked me to go in and help clean it up… That's exactly what I'm doing. I don't care if they attack me. We're going to make it right for the American taxpayers."
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) June 25, 2025
Watch Kari Lake's Opening Statement before the… pic.twitter.com/xHQbPLtCVA
The cuts at USAGM align with Trump’s broader goals to reduce federal spending and challenge media organizations he views as unfriendly. The agency, which dates back to 1942, was created to fight Nazi propaganda and now provides independent news to countries with limited press freedom through various networks including Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.
Critics argue these cuts will harm American influence abroad. Steve Herman, a former VOA correspondent, said removing VOA’s language services has eliminated an effective tool of American soft power and public diplomacy. The impact was recently visible during the Israel-Iran conflict, when Persian-language service staff were briefly called back to work before receiving termination notices.
Lake’s role at USAGM could lead to future opportunities in the Trump administration, a position she’s earned through unwavering loyalty to Trump despite her electoral losses. When she shared news of the agency cuts on social media, supporters suggested potential future positions for her at other federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the IRS, and the Federal Reserve, suggestions which Lake appeared to endorse.
