Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID

by Nicholas Enrich

A civil servant discovers his breaking point when the Trump administration’s cruelty and indifference threaten to violate the oath he swore to uphold.

Nicholas Enrich had finally achieved his lifelong dream: becoming USAID’s lead official for global health. But that dream turned out to be a nightmare in the tumultuous time after President Trump’s second inauguration.

In the months that followed, USAID became the first target of Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The mission to which Enrich had dedicated his career was being dismantled before his eyes—even the name of the agency was removed from the building’s facade. Enrich witnessed firsthand the Trump administration’s lies, how it systematically prevented USAID from providing lifesaving foreign aid, and the death and suffering around the world that resulted from careless decisions. Finally determining he could no longer keep quiet, and risking the career that he loved deeply, Enrich released a set of whistleblowing memos exposing the administration’s illegal and destructive actions.

Enrich was put on administrative leave, yet his memos went viral and had a sustained impact. In the days following their release, hundreds of canceled aid projects were revived, and the documents were cited in a Supreme Court case on the legality of USAID’s dissolution. While his memos were too late to save USAID, Enrich was one of the first government officials to publicly blow the whistle on DOGE’s reckless destruction, sounding an early alarm bell for other federal agencies that would soon find themselves in the crosshairs.

Urgent and profoundly human, Enrich’s story offers an astonishing behind-the-scenes look at a federal agency under siege, from the early days when Enrich and his team were unaware of what was to come to the shockingly ignorant, callous, and bigoted conversations they witnessed. Enrich reveals in this detailed, no-holds-barred account what was truly at stake when DOGE set out to dismantle one of America’s most effective humanitarian institutions, and how millions of lives hung in the balance.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Memoir, Audiobook

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2026

Reviews

[Lily]

Hard for me to rate it since I was a USAID contractor during this time and it’s all very painful still but I’m glad the story of what happened is being told.

[Diana Quirin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a page turner! The story will make you laugh, cry, get angry. It will move you.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an audible book that is read by the author, which is always a good thing I think. This is the behind the scene story of an event that I followed quite closely as it was happening, the shutting down of USAID. But has become the normal case for me. I have left the synopsis and review to Claude AI.

Synopsis
Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID by Nicholas Enrich tells the story of a career civil servant who served as USAID’s lead official for global health. After Trump’s second inauguration, USAID became the first target of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Enrich watched helplessly as the agency he’d devoted his career to was systematically dismantled. He eventually released a set of whistleblowing memos exposing what he characterized as illegal and dangerous actions — and was promptly placed on administrative leave. His memos went viral, were cited in a Supreme Court case on the legality of USAID’s dissolution, and led to hundreds of canceled aid projects being temporarily revived.  The book includes a foreword by surgeon and author Atul Gawande.

Review
The book has landed to strong notices. The New York Times called it a skillful piece of storytelling that serves as a propulsive firsthand account of the agency’s destruction, with an appealingly candid authorial voice, predicting it will be a vivid historical source. 
Kirkus Reviews described it as a righteously aggrieved account of the destruction of one of America’s best ideas.  Their review highlights some striking details — DOGE’s early demand was to cease shipping medicine and food even if already in transit, and the annual per-capita cost to Americans of USAID’s work was just $24. 
An excerpt published ahead of release gives a flavor of the book’s tone: Enrich describes meeting with new political appointees who had no relevant health expertise, with one official suggesting disease-spread maps styled after the movie Outbreak and another reportedly believing USAID’s work consisted mainly of funding abortions.  It’s the kind of detail that makes the book both enraging and darkly comic.
Overall, this reads as a timely, insider-driven account that will appeal to anyone following the DOGE story or interested in how foreign aid actually works. It’s clearly written from a strong point of view, so readers looking for a neutral assessment of USAID’s dismantling should seek additional perspectives — but as a whistleblower memoir, it sounds gripping and well-executed.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who thinks that the dismantling of USAID was about tackling “waste, fraud, and abuse” urgently needs to read this.

[Chris Larlee]

This is a great book if you want to know what being in a murderous rage feels like.

[Colleen Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

A captivating read and I say that as someone who experienced it from the implementing partner side of things. Nick does a great job of capturing both the insanity of the moment (from the inside) and the combination of cluelessness and callousness of those involved from the Trump administration side. I’m feeling the PTSD of it all over again…

A few things struck me:

1) even up until the bitter end, so many within USAID continued to be the upstanding Boy Scouts that they were… trying to find the middle road to keep foreign aid (global health) programs going. This was always a rule following bunch. (We partners were too.) And it is SUCH a contrast to the corruption we are seeing even since USAID was shuttered.
2) so little attention was paid to the implementing partners in this book. I guess- as in life, also in death. While I appreciate that Nick could not tell the implementing partner side of things because he did not experience it (and that is fair), so little concern seemed to be paid to the partners on the ground who were dealing with their own shitstorms of stopped programming, beneficiaries not getting services, partners not being paid, project staff not getting pay checks. There was minor mention of the “partners unwilling to do work for free.” It makes us sound so money grubbing when in fact people were not getting salaries, had land lords and vendors threatening them for past due payments, major banks dropping us due to government failing to pay their multi-hundred million dollar balances, and angry partners who had upheld their end of the work. Things got scary and I am grateful to the few USAID staff who secretly broke protocol to communicate and to tell us what was happening.
3) there was a lot of inside baseball in this book. I have a feeling if I sent it to my sister, she would not fully comprehend the minutia. We still fail to tell the story of aid in the simplest of terms so all Americans can understand.

But my criticisms aside, I am grateful for the story getting out and I applaud him for the courage to do it. I sincerely hope it spurs others to do the same. I know the implementing partner story is harder to tell because no one wants to upend the struggles of organizations that continue to try (emphasis on the word “try”) to do impactful work in the world by airing their inner struggles and dirty secrets.

What we really need is a Catch 22 version of this with our own General Dreedle and General Peckham (Marocco and Lewin??) and Colonel Scheisskopf (Musk).

[Dork · Rating 5 out of 5]

240 pages of why Doge, Elon Musk, Marco Rubio, and others should be in jail for humanitarian atrocities. Their actions will continue to cause so many needless deaths for years to come.

It happens to show why the current Ebola outbreak is entirely their fault, because it was exactly the kind of work USAID did before it was gutted.

[scriptedknight · Rating 5 out of 5]

rating: 5/5 stars
~
fuck elon

[Christine Eskilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although as a federal employee I never want to live through 2025 again, Enrich’s account of the capricious destruction of USAID was far worse than anything I experienced.

[Steve Peifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be fair, most of us don’t meet the moment. In this current day, Zelensky is probably our best example. Churchill would be another. It’s rare, because it requires so much.

To expect a career bureaucrat to be more than what he always has been is an unrealistic expectation. So let’s discuss what he gets right. DOGE had no plan, and no understanding of what USAID did. Their process of determining what to be eliminated would be embarrassing for a first year accounting major. The horrific consequences are fully explained.

But you can’t help but cringe at the cluelessness of someone in charge of such an important agency to decide taking a vacation the first two weeks of the new administration would be fine. With each affront, he is shocked each time. There is little strategic thinking; he just reacts. At one point, he takes the time to pat himself on the back for not wishing a Trump appointee a happy birthday. His idea of pushing back is a sternly written memo, which I’m sure Chuck Schumer celebrated.

Most of us wouldn’t know what to do at first, but I’m guessing we would have figured it out sooner than Enrich did. It’s Monday morning quarterbacking at best to imagine that a full assault against the administration would have made a difference, but what this book celebrates is a memo decrying what happened. You can’t read this and wish someone else had been in charge at USAID who would have had the courage to fight earlier and harder.

It’s an important book because it documents what happened. It’s not a well written book, and at the end you can’t help to feel both sorry for him and disappointed that he didn’t rise to the occasion. It’s hard to do, and that is why it is so rare.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Into the Woodchipper, and I’m comfortable calling this a must-read. That’s not something I say lightly. This isn’t a great work of literature, it’s not a page-turner, and it’s definitely not a beach read. But it is something more important than that—it’s a historical document—a firsthand account of a major and deeply consequential event in very recent history that has, just a year later, directly cost the lives of some 800,000 people.

The book walks through the dismantling of USAID in the early days of the second Trump administration, with a central role played by Elon Musk. And one of the most disturbing elements in the author’s account is the degree to which this process appears to have been influenced by Musk’s belief in conspiracy claims that USAID was effectively operating as a front for the CIA. Those claims are not grounded in credible evidence, yet the book shows how they seem to have shaped both the tone and direction of the dismantling. At the same time, Musk was posting late-night social media rants that echoed these ideas—often disconnected from the actual work being done on the ground—while real decisions were being made that affected millions of people.

This wasn’t an abstract policy shift. It was a rapid and sweeping dismantling of programs, particularly in global health, with consequences that are already measurable in human lives. The author, a senior leader within USAID’s global health bureau, takes you inside that process almost day by day—how it unfolded, how quickly things broke down, and how little regard there seemed to be for the downstream impact. He ultimately steps into a temporary leadership role himself before being terminated, which only adds to the weight of the account.

I’m not a neutral reader here. My own company had a USAID contract that was terminated during this period, so I felt some of the ripple effects. But what’s described in this book goes far beyond any one organization. That’s exactly why it matters—it captures the scale and human cost of what happened in a way that headlines simply can’t.

This is not an enjoyable read, but it’s an important one. If you don’t read the book, then find the author in an interview or on a podcast. However you engage it, this is something worth understanding.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

In case you weren't convinced of the ineptness, callousness and ignorance of the Trump administration and specifically DOGE, this detailed account will leave no doubt. The book left me with feeling of sadness, anger, nausea, and yet hope--as "Rebellions are built on hope."
Read by the author, he chronologically explains the struggles in trying to save USAID, and expose how fucked up the closing process was, and the devastating effects and deaths as a result.

[Jen K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enrich was an a ski trip in Canada in January 2025 when the first Executive Orders related to USAID were issued. The EOs were confusing and concerning. Certainly USAID expected a review with the new president and even some difficult guidance to follow but USAID managed to run fairly well under his first administration. Also Rubio had a history of strong bipartisonship and support for USAID. As a congressman, he co-led to put the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act (READ Act) into law in 2017. He had regularly spoken on behalf of the work done by USAID and the worth of the US's investment in development. Yet this second term would be different.

Enrich shares how after the USAID automated payment system issued payments as usual at the end of January, just days after the Stop Work Order, much of USAID leadership was suspended and Enrich became acting head of the health work, informed by email blast, and as he claims, not the most qualified person to take the position having focused more on operations in his work than the technical programming. This story is his personal story of interacting with the political appointees at USAID and his remaining team trying to justify the need to continue the life saving work done and yet asked to cross personal and professional lines each day trading up some projects and colleagues in an attempt to save others. Yet the ask kept changing until he and co-workers shared a whistleblower report, lasting only about a month in the position.

Working most of my career as an implementer of USAID funding (in the education sector), I had to read this book. In fact, I attended his first ever author talk at Politics and Prose in DC which was a standing room only event with many emotions and tears and love and camradarie in the room. Enrich was the first to truly share the story of the end of USAID in a memoir of that the difficult times when review and optimism became termination and dispair. I appreciated the confirmation of how little those in charge understood or the little interest that they had in trying to understand this 60+ year agency of soft diplomacy and a lifeline to many. Those in charge had some odd personal baggage with USAID (thought USAID had killed his dog...) or really thought all the money went to abortions (none did because that would have been illegal). They were interested in cutting by numbers and not criteria. They wanted to consider 5 projects out of hundreds, not based on a criteria of impact but because they were told 5 (or whatever the small number was). It was a bit soul crushing as someone who dedicated my career but also much of my identity and personal life in serving, trying to improve teaching and learning across the globe.

Enrich was fairly defensive throughout his account, trying to justify every thought and decision made during this month period, to the point that it was a bit off putting. YET I understand as I am still so defensive and senstive to the term "waste, fraud and abuse". I am not sure I will ever get over the trauma of the thoughtless shut down of USAID. Was it perfect? No. Did it need review and restructuring? Yes. This was something else. Disagreeing with the programs or how implementing partners and projects were structured is fine but none of it was fraud, waste nor abuse.

Anyhow I appreciated Enrich telling his story. I do wish it was a larger story but respect his limiting it to only the pieces that he was personally involved in. I hope people read and are able to get the general gist of what actually happened (the exact opposite of the current claims in the news). On the almost anniversary of USAID's formal dismantling, I salute the incredible work, service and sacrifice of the officers of USAID and all the implementing partners and especially the amazing staff we worked with overseas. Go and listen to his book talk if you can: https://www.simonandschuster.com/book...

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. It only discusses facts about what happened, to the extent that the author left some part out because he didn't have access to his emails anymore and didn't want to misquote or misremember. It is disgusting that people who knew nothing about USAID came in and gutted it, even after admitting that they didn't understand what they did and that they had misunderstood what they helped with. It is a staggering number of people, especially children, that have died since the dismantling of USAID. Shame on them.

[Karen Rand · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insider’s recounting of the demise of USAID at the beginning of 2025 undertaken by Elon Musk and his tech bros at the start of Donald Trump’s second term in office. This is a read it and weep story of complete disregard for an agency created by Congress in the 1960s that was destroyed after more than 50 years of saving lives and doing good works around the world. A big thank you to Nicholas Enrich, the author, and all the dedicated civil servants at USAID for their service and commitment.

[Dawn Trlak-Donahue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important, albeit depressing account of the illegal dismantling of USAID, and the overall cruelty and incompetence of the Trump administration.

[Lynn Coburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read a book that made me this angry. Our country has lost its humanitarianism.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I daresay even the most ardent Trump supporter might be dismayed by parts of the story told by Mr. Enrich in the pages of 'Into the Woodchipper'. The level of incompetence and ignorance of some incoming appointees with regard to USAID Global Health (GH) activities was disturbing at best and the execution of the 'takedown' clumsy, also in the kindest interpretation. At least it appears that way in Mr. Enrich's account, although there are large gaps in the larger story. The focus of the book is almost solely on one 'Functional Bureau' of USAID, the aforementioned Bureau for Global Health. As of 2024 there were four of major bureaus comprising USAID (GH, BHA, REFS, and DRG--look up the acronyms if you care) sharing a total budget of around $21 billion, a not an insubstantial agency--it exceeded the entire Department of Interior discretionary budget or EPA and NOAA combined. Enrich worked in GH so you cannot expect him to be an expert in all agency activities but a summary and description of USAID as a whole would have been useful, perhaps even a good old organizational flowchart.

It occurred to me as I read that perhaps there are valid reasons why USAID almost alone among the dozens of Executive Branch Departments and hundred of sub-agencies, that evoked such a negative reaction from the incoming administration. Enrich does not address this at all, except to mention briefly a Joe Rogan podcast with Mike Benz on Dec. 3, 2025 the content of which he disdainfully dismisses it as 'conspiracy', end of story. However there are numerous sources beside Benz (who in fact presents some very convincing evidence) that document the less savory aspects of USAID. These revelations have come from the Left as well as the Right. Books such as The Enduring Struggle: The History of the U.S. Agency for International Development and America's Uneasy Transformation of the World (2021) by John Norris or 'Covert Regime Change: America's Secret Cold War' (2018) by Lindsey A. O'Rourke might be good places to start. It is these sort of activities (primarily within DRG, Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance I assume) that created a deep reservoir of distrust about USAID among many over the decades. That distrust unfortunately leached across the entire agency over time. Another question that arose was why after 60+ years has USAID (and others) made apparently such small inroads into solving the systemic health problems of mainly sub-Saharan Africa? Perhaps the model does not work well or due to widespread corruption? He never once mentions the NGO connections of the Agency which siphon substantial money into organizations that thrive on a continued status quo and endless unquestioned funding. These questions should at least be asked. USAID has in the past repeatedly refused to testify to Congress on various aspects of its activities, further undermining trust and credibility of those seeking to understand it's aims and methods. This despite the fact that Enrich defends it as NOT an Executive Branch agency but a creation of Congress. In reality it seemed to be sort of a hybrid.

Basically, this book served to bolster Nick Enrich's view of himself, everyone who disagrees with him is labeled a liar or worse. There is no index, references or footnotes, all signs of a not serious book but yet another self-serving political hit-piece, capped off by the single encomium on the back cover by the Obama power player and Biden head of--USAID, Samantha Power!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for all Americans. It does not editorialize, it's just a timeline of the total chaos and destruction of the early Trump administration, along with succinct explanations of global health initiatives. It is pretty stunning that our country's agency with the most international goodwill could be twisted and made out to be so ridiculous and deceitful and so many people accepted it. Despite the Sec of State Rubio saying many times how important USAID is "Anybody who tells you that we can slash foreign aid and that will bring us to balance is lying to you. Foreign aid is less than one percent of our budget. It’s just not true" (2019) as well as writing to the Biden admin in 2022, stating howimportant the agency is for countering chinas influence. It seems to me after reading this that DOGE and Trumps political appointees were at odds from the beginning, and I would guess it was a crew of warring egos. There was never a plan, and there were no attempts to understand or make sound decisions for the long run. This was interesting to learn.

Having lived through it at another agency, I can attest to the accuracy of everything in this book. I expected that. What I didn't expect was reliving all the anxiety and raw feelings from last year. I had to stop briefly because I was having heart palpitations!

[Ml Lalonde · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unputdownable insider account of the dismantling of USAID by the Trump Administration and the Elon Musk-led DOGE. The actions of principled, highly experienced and rule following civil servants are in sharp contrast to the lying incompetence of the thugs who descended upon an organization intending to destroy it. I almost bit through my night guard reading this one, even though I knew what the conclusion would be. One is often reminded of the warning given by Timothy Snyder in his book “On Tyranny”: “Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these individuals think about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

[Kate O’Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding chronicle of the destruction of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Gripping narrative nonfiction propels the reader through the experience of federal workers trying to balance the directives of the new administration while maintaining lifesaving efforts vital to US national interest. This book is critical documentation of the destruction the Trump administration has wrought, with lessons for other agencies and the wider struggle to maintain our democracy. And it’s a vital chronicle for accountability. For transparency, my husband works in foreign aid, but I would recommend this book to anyone hoping to better understand the trajectory of US governance under Trump.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dove head first into the trauma reading this. This book is wild and chaotic and exactly how I remember it all happening. It is a very strong retelling of unprecedented, insane events. I knock half a star only because it truly recounts it all but doesn’t do much in the way of self-reflection (at least not in the way I wanted from my former funding entity), and at times I wanted to scoff at the naïveté—that’s the chip on my shoulder talking, and maybe some hindsight bias. 4.5 stars.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a horrifying but essential read of the inside story of how USAID was destroyed in just over a month in early 2025. It’s enraging but so important to get the facts out, so that Americans know how this happened and who was responsible. The callous disregard for hundreds of thousands of lives in developing countries (in addition to destroying the livelihoods of thousands of Americans without cause or Congressional authorization) should shock the consciences of patriotic Americans.

[Denise Felton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooray for whistleblower

The best part of my career was working for a USAID contractor in agricultural development. I saw firsthand how dedicated and honorable were the people who worked in that field. I was horrified and heartbroken to read about the destruction of one of our country's most important humanitarian agencies. The malice and incompetence of the Trump administration is laid bare. Read this book!

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly told- a short but gripping read. Essential to understand what happened to America’s democratic institutions by a small handful of flamethrowers. I hope this leads to accountability, one day.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this history of the early days of the Trump administration will be a good point of reference for years to come of how people face overlapping crises and the sacrifices they deem acceptable versus those they can't stomach. this reminds me of the initial panic and confusion of those first weeks (though i never shared the delusional assumption that they could salvage anything). as we read about the people who helped legitimize the dismantling of life saving health programs by simply doing what was asked of them, we should reckon with our own complicity when we fail to act.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an insiders look at how destructive DOGE undid decades of lifesaving work at USAID. It is a shameful account of ignorant, power hungry political appointees callous disregard for people, poor people, sick people, women and children. EVERYONE should read this book. Then ask yourself why those in power, those in the administration, the congress, didn’t stop them.

[Melissa Hickok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading for the times we are in, both a how-to manual for the accidental activist and a gut-wrenching summary of the flippant dismantling of a U.S. government agency. As other reviews have said, the content and immediacy of the topic outweighs the writing quality.

[Judy Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing personal account of how USAID was completely demolished. It is so frightening that this could even happen.

[Kellie Haddon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s strange reading about something I lived. As one of the 374 GH contractors fired last January, this hit close to home as Nick captured the chaos, uncertainty, frustration, cruelty, sorrow, injustice, and rage that has permeated the past year and a half. The impact of the elimination of USAID as a federal agency is widespread and deep and we will continue to feel the effects around the globe for generations. Every American should read this.