A former USAID official argues that poor public understanding of the agency's work, combined with weak communication of its achievements, made it an easy target when Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) moved to dismantle it in January 2025. The writer contrasts USAID's low public profile with Nasa's carefully cultivated national prestige, arguing that had Doge targeted Nasa instead, the backlash would have made such cuts politically unthinkable, whereas USAID had few defenders able to counter Musk's characterisation of it as a "criminal organisation".

The author, a former deputy director of USAID's Colombia mission, cites a March 2025 Kaiser Family Foundation survey showing 86% of Americans overestimate foreign aid spending, believing it accounts for roughly a quarter of the federal budget when the true figure is about 1%. They detail USAID-backed work in Colombia, including helping Venezuelan migrants gain legal residency, guaranteeing loans for sustainable Amazon businesses and coca-alternative crops, and supporting implementation of the 2016 peace accord, arguing such achievements were rarely communicated effectively to the American public before the agency's elimination cost thousands of jobs and billions in aid.