On Friday, U.S. Agency for Global Media Senior Advisor Kari Lake, announced that over 639 staffers have been terminated from the agency in accordance with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, bringing the total number of positions eliminated at the agency to 1,400.
According to Lake, this represents an overall staffing reduction of 85% since she took her position with the agency in March.
“Today, we took decisive action to effectuate President Trump’s agenda to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,” said Lake. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM (U.S. Agency for Global Media) and Voice of America- part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy. For decades, American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that’s been riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste. That ends now. I’m proud to carry out President Trump’s executive order and deliver results that put America First.”
https://x.com/KariLake/status/1936085141589500195
Lake also announced that she will testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee next week and will expose the media agency’s record of “waste, mismanagement, self-dealing, and national security failures.”
Lake noted that the terminations fulfill the President’s directive to “eliminate all non-statutory functions and reduce USAGM to its statutory minimum, and was carried out in accordance with a statutory plan approved by senior career officials, with decades of federal experience, which will ultimately leave the agency manned by 81 employees.”
“The agency now operates near the statutory minimum; lean and focused. This is a clear example to put American taxpayers first,” Lake said. “I look forward to working with Congress and the of responsible government- cutting waste, restoring accountability, and delivering on the promise Department of State to make sure the future of telling America’s story is modernized, effective and aligns with America’s foreign policy.”
Lake confirmed in her statement that, 250 employees now remain across USAGM, Voice of America, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), refuting mainstream reports alleging OCB employees were part of the staff reduction. “None of OCB’s 33 employees have been terminated,” the statement noted.
President Trump translated into Farsi for the people of Iran to hear his message. https://t.co/TGW6jc8VOS
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) June 22, 2025
Lake was tasked by President Trump to clean up Voice of America’s parent agency after being initially selecting her to lead VoA as Director in December 2024, as previously reported by the Arizona Daily Independent.
Shortly after her appointment, Lake terminated a $250-million lease for a luxury high-rise on Pennsylvania Avenue in March which she described in a previous release as “obscene over-spending including a nearly quarter-of-a-billion-dollar lease for a Pennsylvania Avenue high-rise that has no broadcasting facilities to meet the needs of the agency and included a $9 million commission to a private real estate agent with connections,” according to AZ Free News.
