On Monday morning, employees for USAID got an email telling them to stay out of their headquarters. The email was signed by Gavin Kliger, one of the young engineers working with Musk who helped him gain control of the Office of Personnel Management last week.

In a late-night X Space over the weekend, Musk said that he and his DOGE cronies had gotten into USAID and found it wanting. “As we dug into USAID it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a ball of worms,” Musk said. “If you have an apple with a worm in it, you can take the worm out. If you have a whole ball of worms, it’s hopeless. USAID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple you just need to get rid of the whole thing. That’s why it’s got to go. It’s beyond repair.”