WASHINGTON 

Hundreds of US diplomats have written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to protest the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), warning that it threatens national security, according to a report.

“The dismantling of USAID programs endangers American personnel, diplomats, and military forces overseas,” they wrote in a dissent cable addressed to Rubio, Bloomberg News reported.

Citing a person familiar with the matter, it said the cable was signed by more than 600 diplomats, who said USAID staff had also been subjected to a smear campaign based on claims that “fail even the simplest scrutiny and fact-check as false.”

The diplomats argue that dismantling the agency, which managed more than $40 billion in 2023, will reduce US influence abroad and benefit adversaries like China and Russia.

“These actions will lead to increased economic hardship in developing nations, undermining U.S. commercial interests and reducing markets for American goods and services,” the cable reportedly said.

The State Department did not immediately comment on the report.

When Trump began his second term Jan. 20, he announced a 90-day pause on foreign aid payments, pending a review of assistance programs as part of his “America First Foreign Policy.”

He tasked billionaire Elon Musk with dismantling the agency as part of a broader effort to reduce the size of the federal government, citing wasteful spending.

In fiscal year 2023, USAID, responsible for distributing civilian foreign aid and development assistance, managed more than $40 billion in federal spending -- less than 1% of the federal budget -- funding aid projects in around 130 countries, including Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.