# United States Agency for International Development

United States Agency for International Development|  |
| Agency overview |
| Formed | November 3, 1961 (1961-11-03) |
| Preceding agency | * International Cooperation Administration
 |
| Headquarters | Ronald Reagan Building Washington, D.C. |
| Employees | 3,893 career U.S. employees (FY 2016) |
| Annual budget | $27.2 billion (FY 2016 Budgetary Resources) |
| Agency executive | * Marco Rubio (acting), Administrator
 |
| Website | usaid.gov |
| Footnotes |
|  |

The **United States Agency for International Development** (**USAID**) was the United States Government agency which was primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid.

## Background

President John F. Kennedy created USAID from its predecessor agencies in 1961 by executive order. USAID's programs were authorized by Congress in the Foreign Assistance Act, which Congress supplements through directions in annual funding appropriation acts and other legislation. Although it was technically an independent agency, USAID operated subject to the foreign policy guidance of the President, Secretary of State, and the National Security Council.

USAID operated in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

In February 2025, Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, announced the intention of shutting down USAID.

After the shut down was announced, the USAID website and its public document library, called the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC), was also taken offline. Some of these documents have been saved and are now available on an independent website Independent DEC Archive (usaid.onl)

## List of Administrators

| No. | Administrator | Tenure | President(s) served under |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Fowler Hamilton | 1961–1962 | John F. Kennedy |
| 2 | David E. Bell | 1962–1966 | John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 3 | William Gaud | 1966–1969 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 4 | John A. Hannah | 1969–1973 | Richard Nixon |
| 5 | Daniel Parker | 1973–1977 | Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford |
| 6 | John J. Gilligan | 1977–1979 | Jimmy Carter |
| 7 | Douglas Bennet | 1979–1981 |
| 8 | M. Peter McPherson | 1981–1987 | Ronald Reagan |
| 9 | M. Alan Woods | 1987–1989 | Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush |
| 10 | Ronald Roskens | 1990–1992 | George H. W. Bush |
| 11 | J. Brian Atwood | May 10, 1993 – 1999 | Bill Clinton |
| 12 | J. Brady Anderson | August 2, 1999 – 2001 |
| 13 | Andrew Natsios | May 2001 – January 14, 2006 | George W. Bush |
| 14 | Randall L. Tobias | March 31, 2006 – April 27, 2007 |
| 15 | Henrietta H. Fore | November 14, 2007 – January 20, 2009 |
| 16 | Rajiv Shah | January 7, 2010 – February 19, 2015 | Barack Obama |
| 17 | Gayle E. Smith | December 2, 2015 – January 20, 2017 |
| 18 | Mark Green | August 7, 2017 – April 10, 2020 | Donald Trump |
| — | John Barsa (acting) | April 11, 2020 – November 6, 2020 |
| 19 | Samantha Power | April 29, 2021 – January 20, 2025 | Joe Biden |
| — | Jason Gray (acting) | January 20, 2025 – February 3, 2025 | Donald Trump |
| — | Marco Rubio (acting) | February 3, 2025 – present |

## Other websites

* Official website
* Agency for International Development in the Federal Register
* Records of the Agency for International Development (AID) in the National Archives
* USAID Development Innovation Ventures Archived 2012-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
* Archived USAID documents (independent reconstruction)