Dismantling the US Agency for International Development will cost more than $6 billion, including hundreds of millions needed to fight legal challenges over the shutdown and dismissal of thousands of its workers, according to a State Department draft assessment.
The previously unreported estimate was included in a seven-page memo, dated June 3, prepared for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and signed by nine State Department aides.
It’s unclear whether Rubio has personally reviewed the memo, which Bloomberg Government obtained and confirmed with four people who have seen it. A State Department spokesperson declined twice to comment on the $6 billion draft estimate. And an inquiry to the press email address went unanswered.
Still, the internal estimate raises questions about how much President Donald Trump will ultimately save taxpayers by closing USAID and other agencies as part of his promise to rein in government spending.
The dismantling of USAID was one of the first and most expansive steps Trump took after he tapped Elon Musk to oversee the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk claimed USAID — which for decades sought to strengthen US alliances worldwide by administering humanitarian and economic aid — was rife with corruption and waste, though he offered little evidence. Nearly all of its 10,000 staffers have since resigned, accepted a buyout, or were dismissed.
A DOGE website dedicated to government savings lists individual USAID contracts and grants among the programs it says have yielded billions of dollars in savings. But the site — last updated June 3 — lacks the contract details. Critics have repeatedly assailed the DOGE website for inaccuracies. MORE