Welcome to Taken Down. Not Erased.
In this new age of autocratic leaders, mass government censorship and corruption, information can be taken down, but not erased. On July 1, 2025, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and its functions were merged with the State Department. This came after a thorough dismantling of most USAID programs and laying off of most of its staff. This was all done at the hands of the unelected head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Billionaire Elon Musk. Since the USAID was shut down, over 1,600 employees were fired and roughly 4,000 placed on leave. In addition to the mass casualties, thousands of pages of vital information were taken down from the USAID database.
Our mission is making sure this information is not erased. We stand at the frontline of battle for the democratic principle that makes our country great—Transparency. But more than that, we need to keep alive the information that made it possible to save thousands of lives across the world. This is the job that USAID was working toward before it was shut down. In an effort to make all of USAID’s work as transparent as possible, the agency was in the middle of a vast databasing of most of the agency’s program information. What went where and who received what. How to do this and why we do that. This critical project was killed along with thousands of other USAID programs and contracts, and grants. We are picking up the mantle where they left it.
Please support our mission to itemize and database USAID program information. Join us in making sure this vital information that helped serve the global good and save lives is not erased from history at the whim of an autocrat and his billionaire cronies. Help us make sure what is taken down is never erased.
