US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on a significant reduction in operations of the US Agency for Global Media and a number of other government agencies on Friday, with the document published by the White House.
The Agency for Global Media is responsible for foreign policy outreach and coordinates the activities of such US state-funded radio stations as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and their Internet branches, which are designated as foreign-agent news media outlets in Russia. Officially, the agency is recognized as an independent body of the US government. Until 2018, it was called the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
In accordance with the executive order, "the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law." In addition to the Agency for Global Media, the list includes the Woodrow Wilson Center (the activities of this organization are recognized as undesirable in Russia), the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (supports museums and libraries in the US), the Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, the Minority Business Development Agency, and the Arctic Research Commission.
Trump, jointly with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been carrying out massive layoffs of federal employees and removing structures such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The US leader signed an executive order on Friday limiting access of the Paul Weiss law firm to classified and proprietary materials and federal resources. This is the third major law firm the president has imposed restrictions on due to its work for Democrats. Furthermore, the White House said Trump had reversed on Friday 18 executive orders issued by 46th US President Joe Biden.
Source: AFP
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