The Strategic Costs of Dismantling VOA; Revival Will Be Hard

 The Foreign Service Journal published in its July/August 2026 edition an article titled "When America Went Silent: The Strategic Costs of Dismantling VOA" by Elez Biberaji, 43-year veteran of VOA.

The effort by the Trump administration to shut down the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which operates the Voice of America and sister media outlets, has eroded America's capacity to shape global understanding and ceded influence to competitors who weaponize information.

The Washingtonian published on 2 July 2026 an article titled "Reviving Voice of America Will be Difficult, Insiders Say" by Ike Allen.

As a result of a court decision and some funding by Congress, VOA is trying to return to service.  But only about 200 of its former 2,000 employees are at work and its effort is limited to a few languages.

The Trump administration is appealing the court order to restart VOA operations, and the matter is in limbo.  The situation at the VOA headquarters in downtown Washington has deteriorated so much that some fired staff believe it will not be possible to revive the organization, at least not during the Trump administration.    

Future of Voice of America and Sister Outlets

 The Poynter Institute, a global non-profit focused on ethical journalism, published on 20 March 2026 an in-depth report titled "A Year After Trump Administration Cuts, Voice of America and Its Sister Outlets Are Mostly Shadows of Their Former Selves" by Angela Fu.

After being largely shut down for more than a year on orders from the Trump administration, a federal judge has allowed the Voice of America (VOA) and its sister organizations under the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to resume operations.  The other outlets are the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network.  

VOA had approximately 800 employees and 600 contractors in March 2025 broadcasting in 49 languages.  Today it has about 130 total staff reporting in just 6 languages.  The other employees, but not contractors, were placed on paid leave.  Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network were able to continue limited broadcasting because, unlike VOA and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, they are independent organizations.  But they lost funding and experienced major cuts.  

The future of all of the broadcasting outlets remains uncertain.  The biggest challenge will be to regain the trust of the audience that the VOA and other outlets had before the Trump administration tried to dismantle them.  

Federal Judge Reinstates Voice of America Employees

 The Washington Post published on 17 March 2026 an article titled "Judge Reinstates 1,000 Voice of America Employees, Deems Wind-down Illegal" by Scott Nover.

Following a full year on paid administrative leave as a result of the Trump administration's effort to dismantle the Voice of America (VOA) and its parent organization, the Agency for Global Media (USAGM), a federal judge ruled the action unlawful and ordered USAGM to return more than 1,000 employees to work by March 23 to resume international broadcasting.  Under Kari Lake, USAGM retained only 68 positions.

Comment:  The Trump administration may appeal the decision.  It is also not clear how many of the employees are still available, although most of them likely remained with VOA as they were being paid but not allowed to work.  This is a major victory for telling America's story abroad.  

The Voice of America Lives On, Sort Of

 The Washington Post published on 13 March 2026 an article titled "Trump Picks Head for VOA Parent Amid Lake Legal Battle" by Scott Nover and Adam Taylor.

The Trump administration nominated defeated Arizona candidate for governor and US senator, Kari Lake, to oversee the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which runs the Voice of America (VOA) and several other organizations such as Radio Free Asia.  The idea was to put Lake in charge to shut down these semi-independent government media outlets.  

US District Judge Royce Lamberth recently ruled that Lake has been illegally running USAGM and nullified months of Lake's actions, including a mass layoff of hundreds of employees. The Trump administration has now responded by naming Sarah B. Rogers, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, as the new chief executive of USAGM.  She will apparently keep her current position in the State Department while assuming her new role as CEO of USAGM.  

The White House only provided enough funding to shut down USAGM, but the US Congress rejected that approach and appropriated $653 million for the agency's operations this year. 

Comment:  This development keeps the VOA and its sister organizations alive but now under the direct supervision of the State Department.  USAGM and its media organizations will apparently lose much of their previous independence.  It is also not clear how many of the USAGM work force have remained during this demoralizing and unsettled past year.  

Will the Voice of America Rise Like a Phoenix?

 The Washington Post posted on 13 January 2026 an article titled "Congress Agrees to Fund Voice of America, Bucking Trump Shutdown Order" by Scott Nover.

A bipartisan spending bill from both houses of Congress would allocate $643 million for broadcasting from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees the Voice of America (VOA).  While that figure is down from the $867 million appropriated for the agency each of the last two years, it is more than four times the $153 million the Trump administration requested that Congress provide to "support the orderly shutdown of USAGM operations."  The package still needs full House and Senate approval before going to President Trump for signature.  

In March, Trump called for the dismantlement of USAGM, which also funds Radio Free Asia, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Europe.  Kari Lake, the deputy CEO installed by Trump to shut down USAGM, placed more than 1,300 VOA staffers on paid administrative leave and halted broadcasting operations.  It is the first time the VOA went silent since it was established in 1942.  

Comment:  The decision to dismantle USAGM was especially misguided.  Elon Musk played a major role in the decision.  It is refreshing there is bipartisan support in Congress to fund the agency, albeit at reduced levels.  While this is not yet a done deal, it hopefully invokes the lyrics of the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst, chosen to represent Austria at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark:

Rise like a phoenix

Out of the ashes

Seeking rather than vengeance,

retribution

You were warned

Once I'm transformed, once I'm

reborn

I rise to the sky

You threw me down but

I'm gonna fly 

Iran's Influence in Africa

 The American Foreign Policy Council published in November 2025 an in-depth study titled "Charting Iran's Influence in Africa" by Alexander Brown, Charlotte Krausz, and Rob Gioia.  

Africa is a testing ground for Iran's influence operations, a pathway for sanctions evasion, and strategic depth for its foreign policy initiatives.  After mostly ignoring Africa during Hassan Rouhani's rule (2013-2021), Ibrahim Raisi (2021-2024) reestablished engagement with the continent as a strategic priority.  Iran has sought to leverage latent anti-Western sentiment and exploit the political opening created by the departure of longtime regional players such as France.  

Official Chinese Media Begins to Replace VOA

 The Wall Street Journal published on 13 July 2025 an article titled "China Gets More Airtime Around the World as Voice of America Signs Off" by Aruna Viswanatha, Alexandra Wexler, and Clarence Leong.

Media time slots in foreign countries once used by the Voice of America are, in some cases, now being allocated to official Chinese media outlets.

VOA Is Not "a Rotten Piece of Fish"

 The New York Times published on 25 June 2025 an article titled "Trump Urges Congress to 'Kill' Voice of America as Its Leader Defends Gutting" by Minho Kim and Megan Mineiro.

Kari Lake, who President Trump appointed to dismantle the Voice of America, met with the House Foreign Affairs Committee on 25 June.  She excoriated the VOA, calling it "a rotten piece of fish" and "a threat to American national security."

Comment:  I worked for 37 years in the U.S. Department of State where I often monitored VOA broadcasts and then spent 24 years in academia when I contributed without financial reimbursement my expertise on Africa to VOA programs,  

In the millions of VOA programs in more than 40 languages during those years, of course one can find a few where VOA got it wrong and a few that demonstrated an ideological bias.  But the overwhelming majority were honest programs that accurately told America's story to foreign audiences.  Many of them also countered misinformation and disinformation propagated by our adversaries.

The VOA is not and never was "a rotten piece of fish."  Moving its corpse to the State Department is not the answer.  The State Department does not have the staff, expertise, or resources, especially as it undergoes drastic personnel cuts of its own, to run the remains of the VOA.  More importantly, programing managed by the State Department will have little credibility and no independence.  Foreign audiences will perceive no difference between a State Department press release and whatever is produced by the remnant of the VOA.  

The only winners in the dismantling of VOA are countries like Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China that spread disinformation about the United States.  This will constitute a classic case of shooting ourselves in the foot, but with a Gatling gun.       

Russia and China Filling Void Left by Dismantlement of VOA

 The New York Times published on 24 June 2025 an article titled "As U.S. Dismantles Voice of America, Rival Powers Hope to Fill the Void" by Tiffany Hsu.  

As the Voice of American and its affiliated networks such as Radio Free Asia shut down at the request of the Trump administration, Russian networks such as RT and Sputnik and Chinese such as Global Times, Xinhua News Agency, and China Global Television Network are filling the void.  

Is the Chaos at the State Department Over?

American Diplomat podcast, hosted by Arizona State University, posted on 8 May 2025 a 40-minute program titled "Is the Chaos at State Over?" with Tibor Nagy, a retired career Foreign Service Officer who served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the first Trump administration and for the first three months of the current Trump administration as the acting undersecretary of state for management.

The podcast focused on reorganization and reform of the State Department and Foreign Service.  The DOGE team showed up early in the administration before Secretary of State Marco Rubio's small staff could get their feet on the ground.  This was followed by an avalanche of executive orders from the White House.  Chaos followed. Rubio demonstrated his independence from DOGE early when he said State Department personnel did not have to respond to its request for a list of five things each employee had accomplished in the past week.  

Tibor explained that USAID will be folded into the State Department, although many questions remain as to how its functions will be organized.  He acknowledged that the way USAID was dismantled by DOGE was chaotic and heartless.  There were initially huge screwups, but these have been largely overcome.

Tibor argues that the chaos is over in the State Department now that DOGE has moved on.  He added that it makes sense to combine some of the functions that were previously done in separate offices.  There was too much duplication and inefficiency.  

When asked what the Department of State will look like at the end of the Trump administration, he thought it would be better prepared to deal with the foreign policy issues the United States faces in the 21st century.  Artificial intelligence and new technology are changing the way the Department will operate and it is essential to adapt to the new situation. 

When asked about closing embassies and consulates, Tibor said the US diplomatic presence should be as universal as possible but added it is not necessary to have an embassy everywhere.  He suggested there is no need, for example, to have an embassy in Luxembourg, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Comoro Islands.  Some embassies are overstaffed and can be reduced in size while others may be short staffed.

Tibor admitted that morale in the State Department at the beginning of this process was terrible, but suggested much of the uncertainty has been removed and morale is now much improved.  

Comment:  While there are clearly components of the State Department that need reorganization and reform, Tibor is far more optimistic than I am that the changes currently underway will by the end of the Trump administration result in a more efficient and effective foreign policy process.    

Voice of America and Sister Services Are a Shambles

 Rolling Stone published on 8 May 2025 an article titled "Voice of America Will Be Fed OAN's Far-right Coverage, Says Trump Admin" by Charisma Madarang.  

Kari Lake, the defeated Republican candidate for governor of Arizona who serves as the senior advisor of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), was put in charge of dismantling the Voice of America (VOA). 

She announced that the right-wing One America News (OAN) will provide newsfeed services free-of-charge to USAGM networks including VOA, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and Radio Marti.  Fewer than 20 of more than 1,300 VOA personnel were permitted to enter their place of work earlier this week.

The Washington Post published on 9 May 2025 a commentary titled "It Has Come to This: The U.S. Will Broadcast One America News" by Marc Fisher.

The author concludes that the Trump administration is "going to replace the journalism of Voice of America with the slanted sycophancy of One America News," which "seems like a step into a disinformation abyss."  

Comment:  VOA has effectively been silenced, and the administration seems to want to shut it down entirely.  It is not clear who will put the OAN feed on the air and even less clear who will bother to listen to it.  

State Department Reorganization: For Efficiency or Kneecapping Foreign Policy?

 The Hill published on 27 April 2025 an article titled "Rubio's State Department Scale-down: Efficiency or Global Retreat?" by Laura Kelly.

The Trump administration argues that reorganization of the State Department is intended to make it more efficient.  Critics respond that it is kneecapping US influence in foreign policy.

Comment:  There are almost certainly elements of efficiency included in Secretary of State Marco Rubio's plan to reorganize the State Department.  But when combined with the Trump administration's dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Voice of America and affiliated media outlets, and a host of lesser-known international affairs institutions, the result is mostly a global retreat in US influence in foreign affairs.

How Dismantling U.S. Foreign Policy Institutions Appeases Russia (and China)

 The New York Times published on 26 April 2025 an article titled "How Trump Plays into Putin's Hands from Ukraine to Slashing U.S. Institutions" by Peter Baker.

While the focus of the article in on Trump's Ukraine policy and how it plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin, it also argues that plans to dismantle the following foreign policy organizations have the same effect: National Endowment for Democracy, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, US Agency for International Development, International Republican Institute, and National Democratic Institute.

Comment:  Institutions in the process of dismantlement that should be added to this list are the U.S. Institute of Peace, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and other media services under the U.S. Agency for Global Media such as the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.  

While Peter Baker's article only deals with the impact on Russia of the elimination of these pro-democracy foreign policy institutions by Elon Musk and the Trump administration, the decisions will be equally welcomed in Beijing.  

Voice of America to Live Again

 The Hill published on 22 April 2025 an article titled "Judge Orders Trump Administration to Restore Voice of America" by Ella Lee.

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Voice of America and affiliated news services was likely unlawful and said they could restore service and bring back their employees.  

Kari Lake Moves to State Department to Dismantle Voice of America

 The Washington Post posted on 9 April 2025 an article titled "Kari Lake to Be Detailed to State Department to Dismantle VOA Parent Agency" by Sarah Ellison and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez.

Defeated Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake signed on to run the Voice of America in the Trump administration.  DOGE opted to shut down the agency.  Lake has been detailed to the State Department to dismantle it and its parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media.  

Shutting Down American Soft Power

 The Washington Post published on 25 March 2025 a commentary titled "Trump Is Liquidating America's Reserves of Soft Power" by Joseph Nye.

Power is the ability to get others to do what you want.  In foreign policy, success is determined by the use of hard power and soft power.  By gutting institutions such as the Voice of America and US Agency for International Development, the United States is losing much of its soft power leverage.  

The Voice of America Is Silent

 CBS News published on 30 March 2025 an article titled "Voice of America Journalists Speak Out after Trump Administration Shuts Down Network" by Bill Whitaker.

Thanks to the Trump administration, the Voice of America is silent for the first time since 1942.  This article provides reaction from within the VOA.

Comment:  This is one of the most significant self-inflicted foreign policy setbacks since the end of World War II.  

The Case for Voice of America and Affiliated Media Services

 The American Security Project published on 21 March 2025 a commentary titled "The United States Is Deliberately Sabotaging Its Image Abroad by Gutting USAGM" by Matthew Wallin.

The services under the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) such as the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe reach more than 400 million people worldwide.  The Trump administration decision to gut USAGM will only cede the information space to Russia, China, and Iran.  

We Need the Voice of America Now More than Ever

 Foreign Policy published on 26 March 2025 a commentary titled "We Need the Voice of America Now More than Ever" by Jeanne Shaheen, Democratic Senator from New Hampshire.

The Voice of America and its affiliated services such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia have been a front line of defense for the United States in opposition to the firehose of misinformation from our adversaries.  This is the time to strengthen these services, not abolish them.  

How Not to Compete with China in Africa

 Broadcast Media Africa published on 24 March 2025 an article titled "CGTN-Africa Boosts Continental Reach with Increased Investment."

China Global Television Network (CGTN) is significantly increasing its resources to expand coverage across Africa as the Trump administration shuts down the Voice of America.  China is working to strengthen its relationship with African countries while the United States is seemingly folding its tent.