The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), under its new leader, acting CEO Michael Rigas, is working to navigate a series of legal actions to “moving forward with a measured return to work for USAGM employees on administrative leave,” Rigas told the Washington Reporter.
On March 7th, Judge Royce Lamberth voided a series of actions that Kari Lake made as acting USAGM CEO, and requested a succession plan for her from the agency. Days later, the Reporter first reported that President Donald Trump nominated the State Department’s Sarah B. Rogers to be CEO of USAGM and his direction of Rigas to perform the duties of CEO in an acting capacity.
Rigas is a veteran of the Trump administration’s key personnel offices where he served as Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Acting Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
In 2025, Rigas was also tapped to serve as the acting head of the General Services Administration (GSA), in addition to serving as the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources where he was involved with the State Department’s initial reorganization processes of 2025. He is expected to lean on those experiences to fully comply with the March 2026 order to return hundreds of USAGM employees who were placed on administrative leave.
The agency’s Human Resources (HR) system currently lists 803 employees on its rolls. Of these, 319 employees are in active status, and 484 are on administrative leave. Federal procedures require several steps to be taken by USAGM before the 484 employees on administrative leave begin working.
But, Rigas told the Reporter, “our focus remains on advancing President Trump’s agenda to build a more efficient, accountable agency producing content aligned with the national interest. These changes will better position us to deliver a stronger, more effective Voice of America to global audiences.”
The White House notably backed the USAGM’s efforts as they were ongoing; spokeswoman Anna Kelly noted that “President Trump was elected to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across the administration, including at the Voice of America, and efforts to improve efficiency at USAGM have been a tremendous success.” Kelly predicted that Lamberth’s rulings “will not be the final say on the matter.”
USAGM has taken steps to comply with the court’s order by implementing a phased return-to-work plan, beginning in the coming days.
