US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has frozen nearly all foreign aid cash for a full-on government review, including funds to defend America’s allies from cyberattacks as well as steer international computer security policies.<\/p>\n
The pause applies to “all US foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and US Agency for International Development” while these programs undergo a probe to “ensure they are efficient and consistent with US foreign policy under the America First agenda,” according to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.<\/p>\n
“President Trump stated clearly that the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people,” Bruce said in a Sunday statement.<\/p>\n
“Reviewing and realigning foreign assistance on behalf of hardworking taxpayers is not just the right thing to do, it is a moral imperative,” she continued. “The Secretary is proud to protect America’s investment with a deliberate and judicious review of how we spend foreign assistance dollars overseas.”<\/p>\n
The directive follows President Donald Trump’s executive order issued last week that, among a ton of other cuts to Biden-era programs, paused foreign aid for 90 days pending reviews “for programmatic efficiency and consistency” with US policy.<\/p>\n
This includes State Department money funneled to the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP), according to The Record, citing “two people familiar with the matter.”<\/p>\n
CDP is an agency within the State Department, which was formed under the Biden administration in April 2022 and tasked with negotiating international cybersecurity policies and working with allies to improve privacy protections and responses to digital threats.<\/p>\n
This work has previously included funneling millions of dollars to Costa Rica and Albania following cyberattacks on those two nations’ governments; the money was intended to be spent on shoring up those countries’ IT defenses.<\/p>\n
The State Department did not immediately respond to The Register’s inquiries, including which cyber-related programs and funding have been halted, and how this move supports homeland security, which increasingly involves strong digital defenses around the globe.<\/p>\n