Established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to unite several foreign assistance organizations and programs under one agency, statute law places USAID under "the direct authority and policy guidance of the Secretary of State".

In January 2025, the Trump administration ordered a near-total freeze on foreign aid, making false or misleading allegations of wasteful spending and fraud[5] and planning to reduce employee numbers from around 10,000 to 290.

[13][14] USAID was subsequently established by the executive order of President John F. Kennedy, who sought to unite several existing foreign assistance organizations and programs under one agency.

[c] With these actions, the U.S. created a permanent agency working with administrative autonomy under the policy guidance of the State Department to implement, through resident field missions, a global program of both technical and financial development assistance for low-income countries.

[37][38] Trump declared that agency leaders were "radical left lunatics", while the State Department ordered them to halt virtually all their projects, even if that meant ceasing programs that helped to eradicate smallpox and prevented millions of HIV cases.

[40] This drastic action led to sudden pauses in over 30 clinical trials for ailments such as HIV, malaria, cholera, cervical cancer, and tuberculosis, leaving participants with medical devices in their bodies and cut off from researchers, likely going against the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Senator Roger Wicker (Republican-Mississippi) said, "I have felt for a long time that USAID is our way to combat the Belt and Road Initiative, which is China's effort to really gain influence around the world, including Africa and South America in the Western Hemisphere."

[46] Michael Sobolik, a China analyst at the conservative Hudson Institute think tank and a former aide to Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), has said, "Sure, USAID was doing some highly questionable stuff that’s worthy of review.

"[46] A lawsuit was filed on February 6 by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on February 6, requesting a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the administration, claiming that it violated separation of powers, the Take Care Clause of the Constitution, and the Administrative Procedure Act and requesting that all attempts to shut down the agency be halted, all recent actions be reversed, and a new acting director be appointed.

Through HEARTH, USAID implements One Health principles to achieve sustainable benefits for both people and the environment through projects focused on livelihoods, well-being, conservation, biodiversity, and governance.

Economic Growth offices also occasionally manage assistance to poverty relief projects, such as to government programs that provide "cash transfer" payments to low-income families.

With the help of the Program Office, the mission director ensures that designs are consistent with USAID policy for the country, including budgetary earmarks by which Washington directs that funds be used for certain general purposes such as public health or environmental conservation.

As of June 2009[update], USAID had invested approximately $6.6 billion on programs designed to stabilize communities; foster economic and agricultural growth; and build the capacity of the national, local, and provincial governments to represent and respond to the needs of the Iraqi people.

On 3 April 2014 the Associated Press published an investigative report that revealed USAID was behind the creation of a social networking text messaging service aimed at creating political dissent and triggering an uprising against the Cuban government.

[113] USAID officials realized they needed an exit strategy to conceal their involvement in the program, at one point seeking funding from Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey as part of a plan for it to go independent.

[119] In 2008, the coca growers union affiliated with Bolivian President Evo Morales ejected the 100 employees and contractors from USAID working in the Chapare region, citing frustration with U.S. efforts to persuade them to switch to growing unviable alternatives.

[123] The US government had previously ended OTI spending in Bolivia and subsequently redirected Democracy Program funds to other purposes, while denying USAID had interfered in Bolivian politics.

According to USAID papers acquired by Folha under the Freedom of Information Act, the seminar was planned to coincide with the eve of talks in that country's Congress on a broad political reform.

In February 3, Eduardo Bolsonaro, federal deputy and son of Jair Bolsonaro, answered Benz in his social media by, accusing USAID of financing institutions involved with fighting against fake news during the presidential elections in 2022, such as the International Center for Journalists, Sleeping Giants Brazil and Vero Institute, created by the YouTuber Felipe Neto, with the objective of "manipulating narratives and interfering with Brazilian democracy".

[132][133] Shortly after, in a speech for the Ação Política Conservadora, president of Argentina Javier Milei alleged without evidence that USAID used millions of dollars to falsify the 2022 election.

[148] Although USAID officially selects contractors on a competitive and objective basis, watchdog groups, politicians, foreign governments, and corporations have occasionally accused the agency of allowing its bidding process to be unduly influenced by the political and financial interests of its current presidential administration.

"[151] The 1960s-era Office of Public Safety, a now-disbanded division of USAID, has been mentioned as an example of this, having served as a front for training foreign police in counterinsurgency methods (including torture techniques).

[152] In 2008, Benjamin Dangl wrote in The Progressive that the Bush administration was using USAID to fund efforts in Bolivia to "undermine the Morales government and coopt the country’s dynamic social movements – just as it has tried to do recently in Venezuela and traditionally throughout Latin America".

[155][153] Additionally, the agency has been accused of covert political operations abroad, allegedly collaborating with the CIA on regime-change efforts and controversial funding decisions, leading to strained relations with some foreign governments.

[161] In January 1998, David Morrison, from the U.S.-based NGO Population Research Institute (PRI), traveled to Peru to investigate claims of human rights abuses related to these programs.

[161][162] According to a February 2024 report, the USAID's Office of Inspector General launched an investigation in 2023 into the agency for awarding $110,000 in 2021 to Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD), a charity in Michigan that Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have accused in recent years of sharing ties to terrorism organizations in South Asia.

[166] In 2024, researchers at George Mason University reported that allegations against HHRD were part of a campaign targeting large American Muslim charities based on the manipulation of poorly-sourced information.

Ivanka Trump also toured Africa on behalf of USAID, lauding her father's creation of the "Women's Global Development and Prosperity" initiative and emphasizing its alignment with U.S. national security interests.

[38] Critics, including former USAID administrators, decried this move, calling it "one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in U.S. history", and have argued that the cuts will result in job losses, damage to American businesses, and harm to vulnerable populations worldwide.

[183] According to Pio Smith, UNFPA’s Asia-Pacific regional director, the USAID freeze could lead to 1,200 maternal deaths and 109,000 additional unwanted pregnancies in the next three years in Afghanistan.