FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s administration’s use of Elon Musk’s DOGE to cut USAID spending is having a deep impact on the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), according to internal U.N. emails shared with Fox News Digital.
In an email sent early Friday morning, president of the U.N. Field Staff Union, Milan Victor Dawoh wrote that the USAID funding cut resulted in ‘approximately $30 million’ having been ‘removed from the extra-budgetary (XB) resources, resulting in a significant reduction in staffing.’
Dawoh’s email warns that the U.N. ‘is currently experiencing its worst liquidity crisis since its establishment. The situation is expected to deteriorate further before any improvement occurs.’
Dawoh said that UNDSS will lose 100 employees and that its presence will be eliminated in 35 to 45 countries, while noting that ‘regional hubs’ will be established ‘in the remaining 120 countries where UNDSS will maintain a presence.’
‘The [under secretary-general of UNDSS] emphasized that UNDSS is not a protection agency but a risk management and analysis entity,’ the email reads. ‘This distinction should be clearly communicated to staff.’
The Department’s website describes the UNDSS as ‘a global leader in security risk management principles’ and explains that it ‘enables the safe and effective delivery of United Nations programmes and activities in the most complex and challenging environments, while maximizing resources.’
Fox News Digital asked Dawoh about the authenticity of the email and what portion of the UNDSS budget was paid for by USAID, but received no response.
Earlier this month, António Guterres warned about cuts to U.S. spending at the U.N., stating that ‘going through with recent funding cuts will make the world less healthy, less safe, and less prosperous.’
Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, told Fox News Digital that UNDSS only received about $20 million from USAID last year. ‘USAID informed us that some of this funding has been terminated; other projects will continue with USAID support,’ he said.
Whereas Dawoh’s email indicates that the UNDSS’s loss of funding is related to a cut in extra-budgetary resources, Haq stated that ‘extra budgetary funding from USAID is a relatively small proportion of the Department’s budget, most of which comes from the U.N. regular budget, a U.N. cost-sharing mechanism, and the peace support account.’
According to Haq, UNDSS has 2,250 personnel around the globe, ‘supporting the security of — and enabling operations by — 180,000 U.N. personnel.’ Haq added that ‘the majority of the Department’s workforce is in the field, with a much smaller percentage in New York HQ. U.N. personnel serving in the world’s most dangerous places deserve effective security as they work to save lives.’
Haq said that an email sent to multiple U.N. mailing groups on Mar. 19 mentioning the funding-related closure of one staff entrance to U.N. headquarters was unrelated to UNDSS. ‘Funding for the UNHQ premises does not come from USAID,’ Haq explained. He said that the temporary closure is the result, instead, of some member states’ non-payment of dues.
A U.N. source speaking on condition of anonymity said that in the midst of financial uncertainty, U.N. staff ‘are very fearful of their immediate future.’ The source said that concerns include the ability to collect pensions and access their United Nations Federal Credit Union accounts. The source indicated that because ‘most of these staffers that are losing their jobs are . . . on G-4 visas,’ the change may even impact their ability to stay in the U.S.
‘This is an implication beyond just losing the jobs of individuals. It impacts families, and this could be massive in the coming weeks with new cuts that will impact U.N. agencies.’
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for insight on how employees would be impacted by layoffs but received no response.
Calls for increased U.N. reform come a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for a review of funding to the U.N. At the time, Trump said that the world body ‘has tremendous potential’ but is ‘not being well run.’