Peter Marocco

Peter (or "Pete") W. Marocco is Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance and Deputy Administrator-designate at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Marocco was the author of a USAID cable ordering a freeze of all U.S. foreign aid (with limited exceptions for humanitarian purposes) resulting in furloughs, layoffs and ending operations for almost all U.S.-funded aid projects and significant confusion among providers funded with U.S. foreign aid. Various Republican figures stated their intent to merge USAID with the State Department.

Personal Life

At age 17 Peter Marocco enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, becoming a platoon sergeant with the 3d Force Reconnaissance Company in Mobile, Alabama.

He has a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from Florida State University, a master’s degree in international humanitarian law from the University of Oxford, a Master of Laws from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in international and comparative law and a postgraduate certificate in international security from the Stanford University Freeman Spogli Center. His Oxford dissertation was on the law of armed conflict and unmanned aerial targeting systems. Marocco is married to Merritt Corrigan, a controversial figure in her own right.

In 2015-16 Marocco led humanitarian operations for the Nazarene Fund, a charity founded by Glenn Beck that works to extract Christians from areas in the Middle East where they may face persecution. In August 2017, Marocco served as the Texas Director of Logistics for the statewide Hurricane Harvey response.

U.S. Government

Marocco was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations from January 7, 2018 to August 16, 2019. While in that position his bureau undertook a government-wide review of U.S. foreign assistance directed toward strategic stabilization efforts and developed a global scanning index intended to give early warning of conflicts and atrocities.

He was Senior Advisor for Intelligence and Security at the U.S. Department of Commerce on a special assignment, advising senior leadership on intelligence and security resources.

Later in 2019, Marocco served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs, leading U.S. defense policy across the continent, working to counter transnational threats to the U.S., strengthening partner capacity, enhancing cooperation and working with U.S. Africa Command.

After USAID created a Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, Marocco was named its head in July 2020. The new bureau’s mission was to provide support for civic organizations and independent media in foreign nations, to combat disinformation and to strengthen free elections and the rule of law. While in this position, Marocco was the subject of a Dissent Channel memo to the USAID Administrator claiming that his actions as manager meant the new bureau’s “provision of this strategic assistance has been rapidly reduced, and its ability to program against future challenges significantly diminished.” Among the criticisms in the memo was that Marocco delayed aid to governments including Ukraine and Belarus, instead favoring other programs including one to advance religious freedom in Nigeria.

In October 2020, Marocco took personal leave, returning to his position in December.

January 6 Capitol Attack Allegations

In November 2024, D Magazine reported that an individual associated with the Sedition Hunters group claimed to have identified Marocco and his wife Merritt Corrigan from images of those involved in the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack. Neither has been charged. Marocco has called the allegations “petty smear tactics and desperate personal attacks.”

Marocco's re-hiring by the second Trump Administration has led Courage for America to state: "The appointment of insurrectionist Pete Marocco to oversee national security hiring, of all things, is further proof of Donald Trump and his supporters’ contempt for the rule of law"

Return to Private Life

On January 18, 2021, Marocco filed incorporation papers for Endstate Strategies, LLC as a single-family office and advisory firm for operations management and strategic investment. He became its managing director. By July 2021, Marocco was corporate director of operations at CEC Facilities Group in Irving, Texas.

Marocco was a member of the 2022 class of the Club for Growth Foundation. On April 7 of that year he was appointed to the Governors Emergency Medical Services and Trauma Advisory Council.

During the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) conference in Hungary, Marocco appeared on an episode of the Ben Ferguson talk show. A summary of the episode stated that during his government service, Marocco felt U.S. foreign aid was "undermining the family and indoctrinating children," supporting gay pride, abortion, terrorism and undocumented migrants to the U.S. while ostensibly funding health care, democracy or gender equity. He advocated close monitoring and control of U.S. aid and using social media to counter "indoctrinating and divisive material." Marocco promised that if Donald Trump returned to office he and other conservatives would take inspiration from Hungary's family-friendly policies to address the situation.

Marocco became a leading figure in nonprofit organization Dallas HERO, founded in August 2023. The group developed and supported three amendments to the Dallas city charter that would have established a citizen review of the city manager’s performance; increased police staffing and compensation; and given residents the right to sue the city over disagreements about state and local statutory compliance, waiving the city’s sovereign immunity. The latter two amendments successfully passed.

On December 9, 2024, Politico reported that Marocco was working with the Trump presidential transition team on national security personnel matters.

Return to Government and Aid Freeze

On January 24, 2025, it was reported that Marocco, newly installed as director of USAID’s Office of Foreign Assistance, had sent a cable ordering an immediate pause on new foreign aid spending, as well as a stop-work order for existing grants and contracts. Though US foreign aid amounts to less than 1% of its budget, according to foreign aid experts it is “the largest aid provider in the world, with millions of lives depending on its support,” and the aid freeze “means people who are experiencing some of the most urgent humanitarian crises, who rely on aid to access food, clean water, health care and more, could feel this cut immediately — and this decision could mean life or death for millions.”

The next week, accompanied by officials from the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, Marocco placed 60 senior USAID officials on leave. They were escorted from their offices by security personnel and their government email accounts were frozen.

On February 3, 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed the leadership of the congressional Foreign Affairs and Appropriations committees that he had designated Marocco to act as USAID Deputy Administrator and to begin a review and possible reorganization of its operations. According to Rubio, this review could include suspending or eliminating programs; closing posts, bureaus or offices; reducing agency workforce; and contracting out or privatizing agency activities.