The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a key U.S. tool for supporting grassroots free movements worldwide, and is under siege from Elon Musk's DOGE. As reported by The Free Press, an order from DOGE directed to the U.S. Treasury blocking the payment of funds to NED has harmed the organization, which received $315 million for the 2025 fiscal year, and its affiliates.
"It was a bloodbath," said one of the NED employees. "We couldn't pay salaries or cover basic overhead expenses."
The dismantling of NED will not just be a cost-cutting measure; it will symbolize significant changes in U.S. foreign policy, undermining the notion that democratic ideals contribute to the global power and influence of the U.S. The Trump administration is showing that it no longer believes that promoting democracy worldwide serves national interests.
Established in 1983 with bipartisan support from President Ronald Reagan, NED was intended to attack the Soviet "evil empire" at its weakest point: the lack of democratic legitimacy. It provided grants to activists and unions behind the "iron curtain." The fund supported Lech Walesa's independent labor movement in communist Poland, and thanks to NED, the world learned about the horrific death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian regime for not wearing a headscarf.
NED and its close organizations—the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, one from each party—enjoyed bipartisan support.
After the end of the Cold War, NED expanded its mission beyond the dissolved Soviet bloc, providing grants to pro-democracy NGOs in Iran, China, Venezuela, and Cuba, using a strategy of supporting local citizens opposing authoritarian systems. With the fund's support, it was documented how the Cuban regime turned into a kleptocratic mafia state. NED partners exposed the Uyghur genocide and the network of overseas police stations of the Chinese Communist Party.
The first Trump administration continued NED's work. Several key Trump allies joined its board, such as Elise Stefanik, who was nominated by Trump for the position of U.N. ambassador.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on the board of the International Republican Institute when he was a senator from Florida. Moreover, he was the keynote speaker at the institute's annual dinner last May.
"Countries around the world and people must see that freedom and democracy are not just ideals to strive for, but practical things that work, and work better than totalitarianism," Rubio said in his speech. "It takes more time, it's harder, it requires you to listen to people you disagree with. It requires you to work with people you consider half-crazy. But the alternative is a small group of people deciding what happens, and we have no say or role in it."
Many Republican supporters of NED, including former Trump national security advisor Robert O'Brien, fought behind the scenes to protect NED from DOGE's knife. But their opinion played no role.
On February 2, Musk wrote on social media X: "NED is a scam." On February 7, the "Center for Renewing America," founded by Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump, released a policy document accusing NED of allegedly provoking Russia to invade Ukraine.
"The continuous flow of NED grants to numerous Ukrainian political organizations and movements contributed to both the "Orange Revolution" and the "Maidan Revolution," which paved the way for the current war between Ukraine and Russia," the document states.
Meanwhile, NED does not direct its grant recipients to organize demonstrations; it teaches citizens the basics of democracy, such as election preparation. "We have nothing to do with organizing these protests," said Carl Gershman, who led NED during the Ukrainian protests. "We supported groups that wanted freedom and democracy. But we didn't tell them to do it."
The chaos that DOGE caused with the order at the Treasury Department suggests that DOGE really wants to end NED's activities, not fix them, according to FP.
"We don't want American support for democracy worldwide to be suspended for long because America's adversaries are not going to stop. They will fill any vacuums we leave, to the detriment of what makes our country strong, prosperous, and safe," said IRI President Daniel Twining, noting that defending democracy is in the U.S. national interest.