Former USAID Official Questions Whether DOGE Cuts Undermined Nepal Flood Preparedness
Key Takeaways
- •Flash floods near Nepal's border with China, believed caused by a Himalayan glacier collapse, killed at least 670 people and left roughly 3,000 missing, including 90 Americans.
- •Former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk suggested Trump administration cuts may have reduced local communities' ability to prepare for the disaster.
- •DOGE, led by Elon Musk, oversaw roughly $60 billion in cuts to U.S. foreign aid, using keyword searches including 'climate' to terminate grants.
- •The terminated SERVIR program, a 2004 USAID-NASA initiative, provided flood forecasting with days of lead time and monitored Nepal's dangerous glacial lakes.
- •A NASA notice published in late March 2025 confirmed USAID terminated all SERVIR agreements and that NASA could not continue the program without the partnership.
The catastrophic flash floods that struck Nepal this week, killing at least 670 people and leaving roughly 3,000 missing — including 90 Americans — might have claimed fewer lives if not for actions taken by the Trump administration, former USAID disaster-response chief Jeremy Konyndyk suggested on Saturday.
A series of catastrophic flash floods hit Nepal near its border with China on Wednesday, causing unprecedented destruction. The disaster is believed to have been triggered by a glacier collapse in the Himalayas. Nepal sits on the front line of such hazards: the Hindu Kush Himalaya region holds thousands of glaciers, and glacial lake outburst floods have long been documented as a risk to downstream communities there.
Konyndyk, who led USAID's response to the COVID-19 pandemic under the Biden administration, raised the question of whether the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, may have crippled local communities' ability to prepare for such a disaster.
"DOGE famously used keyword searches for terms like 'climate' to terminate federal grants," Konyndyk wrote, referring to the DOGE-led effort to gut funding for USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development.
"Among the victims: a collab between USAID and NASA for flood prediction, early warning, disaster readiness, glacier inventories, and mapping dangerous glacial lakes… in Nepal."
Spearheaded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, DOGE oversaw approximately $60 billion in cuts to U.S. foreign aid under the Trump administration, leaving few surviving USAID projects in its wake.
Among the USAID programs Konyndyk said was affected was SERVIR, a program that produced detailed and advanced flood forecasting with "days lead time" that "allows people to plan and prepare for [floods]." The program also specifically monitored the "potentially dangerous glacial lakes of Nepal." SERVIR, launched in 2004 as a joint USAID–NASA initiative, used satellite data to support environmental monitoring and disaster readiness in regions including the Himalayas.
A notice from NASA supports Konyndyk's assertion that SERVIR was impacted by DOGE cuts.
"Earlier this month USAID notified SERVIR partners that they have terminated all agreements and contracts with NASA and the SERVIR network," reads the notice, published in late March of 2025. "Without the partnership with USAID, NASA cannot continue the SERVIR program."
Konyndyk's remarks are the latest chapter in an ongoing debate over the national security and humanitarian consequences of dismantling USAID, which for decades served as a core instrument of U.S. soft power and disaster-response capacity worldwide.
DOGE famously used keyword searches for terms like "climate" to terminate federal grants. Among the victims: a collab between USAID and NASA for flood prediction, early warning, disaster readiness, glacier inventories, and mapping dangerous glacial lakes... ...in Nepal. pic.twitter.com/AYkA8kZqnf — Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) August 28, 2026 (https://x.com/JeremyKonyndyk/status/2093392544885325879?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
