The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has started sending reduction in force (RIF) letters to dozens of full-time employees at the Voice of America, The Desk has learned.
The letters were sent early Thursday morning, one day after Special Advisor Kari Lake notified members of Congress of the agency’s intent to significantly reduce the international broadcaster’s workforce, according to a copy of a letter obtained and published by The Desk.
The precise number of terminations was not clear, but the letter sent to Congress earlier this week proposed reducing Voice of America’s workforce to just 11 full-time employees. Many of the workers being notified this week have been on administrative leave for several weeks, and are being told their last day at Voice of America is August 15, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The firings are rooted in an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump in March, which required USAGM and six other agencies to significantly reduce their operations and workforce. The order has been the subject of at least three legal challenges, two of which directly involve Voice of America, which is funded through acts of Congress and transmits radio and TV programming in dozens of languages throughout the world.
A non-binding contract signed between Lake and the president of TV broadcaster Herring Networks proposed replacing much of Voice of America’s own programming with news packages produced and distributed by One America News (OAN), a right-of-center cable news channel. Lake said the move was intended to save taxpayer money, but admitted she lacked the authority to direct Voice of America to run OAN news packages or programming.
Stories produced by OAN have yet to air, but the internal monitors at Voice of America’s Washington, D.C. newsroom were tuned to OAN on a full-time basis late last month, according to a source familiar with the matter.
In addition to the 11 full-time positions, USAGM intends to keep around two dozen staffers who are assigned to other parts of its operation, including two China-based journalists and two Farsi-language reporters. The agency also intends to keep more than a dozen administrative and support staffers, as well as two engineers.
The number represents a significant downsize in force, where USAGM previously employed 1,033 full-time workers, including 930 employees assigned to Washington, according to documents reviewed by The Desk.
The four-page letter to Congress also spelled out Voice of America’s editorial mission moving forward, which will include programming that discusses the “products, tourism and cultural and educational facilities” of the United States, as well as reports on trade-related matters.
“The Voice of America functional requirement and scope is duplicative with the activities of private United States broadcasters,” Lake’s memo read, presumably referring to OAN and Herring Networks.
Lake said a handful of positions will be retained in news broadcasting “in case there are needs.”
The layoffs involving full-time employees comes about two weeks after USAGM terminated hundreds of independent contractors, known internally as public service contractors (PSCs), which included foreign-language reporters, photojournalists and editors.
Some of the PSCs are J-1 visa holders, which allows them to remain in the United States contingent upon full-time employment or academic work.
