Podcast Summary: This Week in Global Development

Episode: "Forget Quiet Quitting, the State Department Appears to be Quiet Hiring"

Date: December 17, 2025
Hosts: David Ainsworth (A), Alyssa Miolini (E), Michael Igoe (B)
Special Segment: Kate Warren (C) with Boucret Zupplikar (D), Terre des Hommes Netherlands

Episode Overview

This final episode of the year provides a candid breakdown of the latest—and often chaotic—shifts inside the U.S. State Department, particularly in the aftermath of the Trump administration's unanticipated dismantling of USAID. The team investigates the “quiet hiring” trend, attempts a new “who’s who” of foreign aid leadership, and assesses whether the State Department is rebuilding a system it only just tore down. The second half features an interview on enabling systemic change to combat child exploitation in Asia.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Year in Review and State Department Shakeup

• Opening Reflections: The hosts comment on an “extraordinary year,” marked by unpredictability in U.S. global development policy.

  • “Somebody texted me this morning and said that it’s a year that development people will want to view in the rearview mirror.” (David Ainsworth, 00:15)

• Post-Election Uncertainty: Early Trump administration 2.0 caught many off-guard, including analysts predicting appointments.

  • “Very few of them are [involved in foreign aid now]. … We did not see the events of 2025 coming.” (Michael Igoe, 01:21)

• Leadership and Power Structure:

  • Introduction of key players—many with personal connections to administration insiders, including the Kennedy and Trump families.
  • Example: Amaryllis Fox Kennedy at OMB and Ben Black at the Development Finance Corporation.
  • “It’s a list of people who are just sort of deeply intertwined with each other personally and professionally. ...There are a large number of family connections.” (B, 04:50)

• Reduced Transparency: The current administration is harder for journalists—and the public—to access than previous ones.

  • “This group has a lot of pre-existing connections...but is not easy to access.” (B, 06:03)

2. Experience Concerns & Quiet Hiring

• Lack of Subject Matter Expertise:

  • New appointees often lack traditional foreign aid experience.
  • “These seem much more like people who’ve come in from the administration and being told, sort this particular thing out, not people who really understand the subject…” (A, 07:23)

• USAID to State Department Transition:

  • Jeremy Lewin tasked with leading foreign assistance is described as a “late 20s something former attorney…initially tasked with dismantling USAID.” (B, 07:52)

• ‘Quiet Hiring’ & Workforce Flux:

  • State is backfilling positions—often using the same external contractors from the USAID era, despite initially laying off much of that workforce.
  • “We’re seeing a ton of different job postings for really similar USAID-style roles...across various foreign affairs hubs.” (E, 15:59)
  • Notably, only about 600 (from a workforce of ~10,000) made the jump—leaving the Department vastly understaffed.

• Morale and Institutional Breakdown:

  • AFSA (American Foreign Service Association) reports “98% of people exhibiting low morale,” high burnout, and communications cut with State (24:21).
  • “At the beginning of this year, there was an executive order that essentially severed the ties from a number of these union organizations...Now they’re not recognizing that for this individual. … They don’t answer our calls anymore.” (E, 24:21)

3. Funding, Spending, and Strategy (or Lack Thereof)

• Aid Outflows:

  • Over $30 billion in U.S. foreign aid dispersed this past fiscal year—but much of it under the outgoing Biden administration.
  • “They didn’t really commit any new aid at all meaningfully...until the start of the next financial year.” (A, 26:34)

• New Directions Reveal Old Patterns:

  • Recent months see a “ramp up” in global health compacts—mainly large, complex agreements with high price tags.
  • “This totally unproven process is...putting a lot of weight on a super condensed process of hammering out these agreements with countries that are pretty complex and not without some controversy.” (B, 29:12)
  • Example: Mining provisions in the Zambia health compact spark debate.

• Unclear Overarching Strategy:

  • The consensus: there’s little evidence of an actual strategic plan behind these pivots.
  • The dismantling of USAID may have been an “accident.”
  • “It paints a picture of nobody having a really very clear idea of what they wanted to do when they dismantled it, and no one having really formed a very clear idea of what they want to do afterwards.” (A, 17:57)
  • “What’s the strategy behind it? Is it just a kind of cool grant to zipline or does this administration have a strategy for global health supply chains that’s going to replace decades of back and forth to put that system together?” (B, 30:07)

• Rhetoric vs. Reality:

  • Many actions (e.g., using same contractors, restoring old functions) suggest eventual recreation of USAID model, despite anti-bureaucratic claims.
  • “Are we just going to be rebuilding back exactly what we lost? And that’s kind of what it seems like at the moment.” (E, 21:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I was really struck by [Susie Wiles’] willingness to lay so much of this at the hands of Elon Musk. That almost felt like a very intentional move. … It’s sort of odd for an administration to explain away their own power and decision making to hand that over to somebody else.” (B, 19:27)

• “98% of people exhibiting low morale, a lot of people wanting to leave the Foreign Service, one in four Foreign Service officers generally that have been booted, including all the USAID staff.” (E, 23:01)

• “The grand challenge is to achieve both of those things [responsibly manage aid, and build a better system]. … Their thesis is that that system didn’t work very well and that they’re capable of doing something different and better.” (B, 33:43)

Interview Segment: Systemic Change to End Child Exploitation (08:30–14:53)

Host Kate Warren interviews Boucret Zupplikar of Terre des Hommes Netherlands about their work in Asia.

Key Takeaways

• Systemic Change means addressing the root causes—laws, power imbalances, social norms—not just the symptoms of child exploitation.

  • “A systemic change approach really focuses on strengthening laws, policies, institutions, and addressing power imbalances that lie essentially at the heart of exploitation.” (D, 09:04)

• Interconnected Stakeholders:

  • Law enforcement, government, schools, families, businesses, even criminal networks all influence children’s vulnerability.
  • “Each of these parts have a role to play. None of them operates in isolation.” (D, 10:20)

• Example from Nepal:

  • Advocacy led to inclusion of online safety and child exploitation awareness in the national curriculum—impacting future generations at scale.
  • “We were able to include education and awareness on protection from online child sexual exploitation in the national school curriculum of Nepal.” (D, 12:45)

• Need for Collaboration and Accountability:

  • Real change “will require much closer collaboration between governments, civil society, law enforcement agencies, and international organizations. … They need shared goals and a long-term commitment.” (D, 13:48)

Timeline of Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:04–04:29 | Year in review; intro to State Department’s chaos, new movers and shakers | | 04:50–07:52 | Discussion of new power players, family ties, and limited expertise | | 08:30–14:53 | Interview: Boucret Zupplikar on systemic change in child protection | | 15:02–19:20 | Analysis of “quiet hiring,” State in flux, USAID absorption, staffing issues| | 19:20–24:21 | The Susie Wiles/Elon Musk variable, tension over hiring, contractors | | 24:21–26:58 | Union breakdown, communication blackout, AFSA survey | | 26:58–31:41 | Funding and aid disbursement trends, global health compacts, lack of strategy| | 31:41–34:43 | Speculation on motivation and future reconstruction of USAID model | | 34:43–34:57 | Hosts’ closing thoughts |

Conclusion

This episode offers rare, on-the-ground insight into the turmoil and reconstruction underway at the State Department post-USAID. The sense is of a system improvising its way back to old patterns, with insufficient staff, unclear strategy, and a leadership team built more on connections than development experience. Meanwhile, the interview spotlights how genuine systemic change is possible—albeit slowly—when actor collaboration and root causes are addressed.

As 2025 closes, the key questions remain: Can the U.S. rebuild something better than before? Or will it simply end up rebranding yesterday’s bureaucracy with new names and faces? Time—and much more quiet hiring—will tell.

For more detail, see the full transcript and related Devex reporting.