President Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Michael Pack, showed up to work Wednesday for the first time after being approved by the U.S. Senate two weeks earlier.
His words to staff were affirming. His actions were anything but.
Pack swiftly sidelined most of the agency's senior leadership by stripping them of their authority. He also fired the chiefs of the government-sponsored broadcast networks for foreign audiences which his agency oversees, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Radio Free Asia; Office of Cuban Broadcasting, which oversees Radio and Television Martí; and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, which runs Alhurra and Radio Sawa.
The two-top officials at Voice of America resigned days earlier in anticipation of Pack's arrival.
Pack dissolved advisory boards over each of the networks and placed his own aides above them. He gave no reason for his actions other than his authority to do so, according to two people with direct knowledge of the day's events.
Trump had sought to place Pack in the position for two years, complaining about the Senate's slow pace in confirming him to the job. This spring, lawmakers learned Pack was under investigation by the Washington, D.C., attorney general's office over concerns he had improperly transferred millions of dollars from his not-for-profit outfit to his for-profit production company. That investigation has not yet been resolved.
Pack's bold moves took people who work at the agency by surprise. A memo obtained by NPR that was sent out by Pack's new chief of staff, Emily Newman, said that officials could take no actions and make no external communications without approval from above.
Several staffers, who spoke to NPR on condition they not be named, said that effectively shut down the agency.