Key Points
- USAGM will vacate its Washington, D.C. headquarters and relocate to a NASA-used building under cost-cutting ordered by President Trump.
- The move follows cancellation of the current lease, triggering an estimated $15 million payment to the landlord.
- The relocation comes amid legal challenges and controversy surrounding USAGM leadership and operational changes.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is moving out of its current television studios and administrative offices in Washington, D.C. and will relocate to a building used by NASA, according to a memo circulated among employees and obtained by The Desk.
The note, written by USAGM Special Advisor Kari Lake, said the move is part of a cost-cutting measure rooted in an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year, which requires that agency and six unrelated ones to implement steep cost-cutting with the goal of saving taxpayer funds.
“In today’s environment of heightened geopolitical competition and increased focus on protecting U.S. interests abroad, we must execute our governing statutes with precision and discipline, guided by an America First approach,” Lake, who considers herself the acting CEO of the agency, wrote in the memo on Monday. “This ensures alignment with the National Security Strategy, which prioritizes safeguarding the American people, protecting taxpayer resources and advancing U.S. leadership globally.”
Earlier this year, Lake decided USAGM will move its operations to a new building along the 300 block of E Street Southwest early next year. The address reviewed by The Desk corresponds to a building with television studios used by NASA for its live web streams and television production.
The USAGM operates the Voice of America, which has radio and television feeds that serve millions of foreign nationals with news programming in English and other languages. It also oversees Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Radio Marti in Cuba.
The decision to vacate its current headquarters along Independence Avenue is part of a larger plan within the Trump administration to tear down the long-time home of the USAGM and sell off the land once the building is demolished, a source said. Without preservation efforts, the destruction would likely lead to the loss of numerous Depression-era murals that are located within the building, the source noted. It isn’t clear if there are legal efforts to preserve the building or block USAGM’s relocation to the NASA building.
Prior to the start of the year, the USAGM had plans to move out of its current headquarters into a new, privately-owned building with more-modern facilities. But Lake decided to cancel that lease agreement, a move that resulted in a break-up fee of $15 million being paid to the private landlord, the source said.
Some of Lake’s prior efforts implemented through Trump’s Executive Order have been challenged by current and former USAGM employees and contractors, including mass firings, sweeping layoffs and the withholding of federal grant money earmarked for broadcast operations.
Federal judges overseeing those legal challenges have largely sided against USAGM along the way, finding the agency improperly withheld federal money from RFE/RL and Radio Free Asia and wrongfully terminated workers.
Lake, a former local TV news anchor who ran unsuccessfully for office, has long opined that the USAGM should be self-reliant and run a leaner operation. To that effect, she unilaterally canceled numerous contracts with third parties, including news licensing agreements with global outlets like the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Controversially, Lake also entered into an agreement with Herring Networks, the parent company of One America News Network (OAN), to provide news content to Voice of America for broadcast overseas. While a memorandum of understanding was executed between Lake and Herring Networks owner Charles Herring earlier this year, OAN programming has yet to air on Voice of America in any of the countries where it operates.
