NBC News has learned of the suspension of USAID security chiefs

USAID Security Director John Voorhees and his deputy Brian McGill were suspended after they refused to grant access to classified materials to representatives of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This was reported by NBC News on February 3, citing sources.

"The U.S. Agency for International Development's security director and his deputy were placed on administrative leave on Saturday after they tried to prevent Department of Government Efficiency officials from accessing USAID's secure systems," the channel's material said.

It is specified that the databases to which DOGE employees tried to access contained personal files of the agency's employees, as well as data on its security system and classified USAID data.

However, according to the interlocutors of the TV channel, DOGE employees were eventually able to gain access to secure systems, but it is not known what exactly.

"They're going to try to make up anything that can hurt the Trump team's reputation."

Experts explained what Ilon Musk's gesture at the US presidential inauguration parade means

Earlier, on February 2, American politician and billionaire Ilon Musk called USAID a criminal organization that should cease to exist. According to him, the agency is "a snake's nest of radical left-wing Marxists who hate America." The Agency Asssociated Press specified that USAID refused to give access to classified materials to representatives of DOGE, the head of which is Musk.

On the same day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that USAID should be changed into a "self-help agency" if it resumes its activities. She specified that this body of state administration is broken, and ironically called it an agency for interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.

Before that, on January 20, the White House website published an executive order by US President Donald Trump to suspend Washington's development aid to other countries for 90 days. After, on January 25, Reuters reported that USAID froze programs to support foreign countries, including Ukraine, after a State Department dispatch approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported on February 1 that Scott Bessent, head of the U.S. Treasury Department, gave Musk's team access to the federal payment system to monitor and limit government spending. According to the newspaper's interlocutors, DOGE employees were granted access to the system, which processes data on payments worth more than $5 trillion a year, the department already requires access to data from other agencies. The system stores personal data of millions of citizens, which increases the risk of conflict of interest, the material noted.

On January 31, Reuters reported that Musk's aides, engaged in work in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, closed access to all databases with personal information for government employees. The systems, according to the interlocutors of the publication, included databases containing information on dates of birth, addresses, salaries and length of employment of employees.