The Trump administration has replaced the senior leadership team of the Peace Corps in advance of “organizational transformations,” which one close observer believes could include significant changes to the agency’s global footprint.
This week, Peace Corps CEO Allison Greene, Deputy CEO Cheryl Faye, and Acting Chief of Staff Julie Burns all stepped down and were replaced by three officials who were already serving at the agency. The former acting chief financial officer, Paul Shea, has taken over as Peace Corps CEO, Kris Besch is now deputy CEO, and Karen Roberts is serving as acting chief of staff.
Officials from Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have made multiple visits to the agency. While that initially raised fears that the Peace Corps could be the next foreign aid agency targeted for elimination, those concerns have somewhat abated.
In its latest budget proposal, the White House requested $430 million in funding for the Peace Corps — the same amount it received last year.
Efficiency efforts were mostly expected to target the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., where employees received “deferred resignation” offers, which would place them on paid administrative leave until their employment ends on Sept. 30.
[Dan Baker, the current CEO of the National Peace Corps Association] told Devex — and previously told The New York Times — that Peace Corps country programs are likely to be spared from cuts and efficiency efforts.
“I don’t expect major changes overseas,” he said.
[But Glenn Blumhorst — another close Peace Corps watcher who earlier led the National Peace Corps Association] — citing close contacts at the agency — told Devex he expects about 20 of the Peace Corps’ roughly 60 current country programs to be eliminated.
He said the Trump administration would base its decisions about which country programs to cut on three criteria: the country’s strategic importance to the United States, the program’s financial viability and return on investment, and — most importantly — the country’s alignment or misalignment with Trump administration foreign policy positions.
Blumhorst described the latter as a “loyalty test” for Peace Corps partner countries.
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