January 31, 2025

USAID website goes dark, staff emails deactivated amid DOGE takeover; NOAA inboxes spammed with crude Trump jokes, Scientology subscription

3 minutes

The main website for USAID went offline this weekend and thousands of staffers may have lost access to their email accounts amid rumors that the Trump administration intends to eliminate the agency. The website went dark after staffers associated with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency gained access to the domain and then blocked USAID employees, a person familiar with the matter told FedScoop. The source said around 2,000 email accounts associated with USAID workers have since been deactivated. USAID did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. The news follows a massive and sudden pause on American international aid that’s shaken global development groups charged with disbursing critical and life-saving resources.

An all-staff email distribution list at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was bombarded with crude emails last Thursday night, prompting a review by its top IT official. The emails included an “Important Weather Alert” about a “99% chance of shit showers” over the next four years, a subscription confirmation for Scientology Today, and crude and inflammatory messages critical of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Some of those emails were obtained by FedScoop and others were posted online to X and Reddit. The incident has sparked a review by NOAA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, according to an email shared by a spokesperson for the weather and climate agency.

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