The U.S. is halting global demining programs, according to The New York Times.

The U.S. State Department, which funds the demining of unexploded ordnance worldwide, has requested organizations financed by the department to "immediately cease operations." This was reported by The New York Times.

In an email sent by Karen R. Chandler, head of the State Department's Bureau of Arms Control and Reduction, it was stated that the suspension "aligns with the president's directive to reassess and reorganize U.S. foreign aid."

Officials overseeing financial grants for nonprofit demining groups will provide further instructions on Monday, as mentioned in Chandler's email.

This statement followed comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first working day on Tuesday, where he stated that the complete cessation of foreign aid was intended to "ensure that our foreign policy is focused on one thing—advancing our national interests."

Rubio asserted that these interests were "clearly defined" during President Trump's campaign as "everything that makes us stronger, safer, or more prosperous."

It is unclear whether Rubio or the president understand that the presence of unexploded ordnance also poses a threat to American lives, given that U.S. troops often suffer casualties or injuries from hazardous munitions on the battlefield, such as unexploded submunitions from cluster munitions. Such munitions killed as many U.S. ground troops during the Gulf War in 1991 as were lost to enemy fire.

In the latest annual report from the State Department on its global efforts to eliminate unexploded ordnance, one official noted that the program, which was suspended by the Trump administration, "strengthens food security by helping to restore agricultural lands" in countries like Sri Lanka and Vietnam, and referenced extensive contamination in Ukraine, where the war with Russia "has littered vast areas of the country with landmines, unexploded ordnance, and improvised explosive devices."

"Clearing Ukraine's agricultural land from mines is directly linked to global food security and is a prerequisite for Ukraine's recovery," the official wrote, adding that the department's work elsewhere has been aimed at assisting displaced persons and refugees in safely returning home and promoting economic security and prosperity.

The report claims that the United States is a "leading advocate for the destruction of conventional weapons worldwide" and has provided nearly $5.1 billion in assistance to more than 125 countries since 1993 for clearing areas of unexploded ordnance.

Less than a year after Mr. Trump's first inauguration, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis ordered his deputy Patrick M. Shanahan to overturn a longstanding policy regarding cluster munitions just months before they would permanently disappear from the Pentagon's arsenal, with Mr. Shanahan later citing the threat from North Korea as a reason for their retention.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has not reversed this policy change during his four years in office and has sent outdated ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads and 155mm DPICM artillery shells to Ukraine for use against Russian and North Korean forces.

In 2020, the Defense Department under Mr. Trump rescinded another long-standing policy that had restricted the Pentagon's use of anti-personnel landmines outside the Korean Peninsula since 1996, enacted by President Bill Clinton.

The Biden administration altered the course of this policy in June 2022, effectively restoring the Clinton-era position, but then severely undermined it by supplying Ukraine in November 2024 with 155mm artillery shells that dispense "unreliable" anti-personnel mines.

The long-term implications of Chandler's request for numerous demining humanitarian organizations funded by her office remain unclear.

President Volodymyr Zelensky previously stated that the United States has approved $177 billion for Ukraine during the war. However, Kyiv has not seen even half of that money.