President Donald Trump has nominated State Department official Sarah B. Rogers to serve as chief executive officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a move that comes as the administration tries to steady the government-funded broadcaster after a court ruling threw its leadership into turmoil.
The White House said Thursday that Rogers, of New York, had been sent to the Senate for confirmation to lead the agency, which oversees Voice of America and other U.S.-backed international news outlets.
Rogers announced the nomination in a social media post, writing, "I am deeply honored by, and grateful for, President Donald J. Trump's nomination to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media – a role I will hold concurrently with this one if confirmed."
She added, "I am excited to get started, and look forward to engaging with the Hill." Rogers is currently serving as under secretary of state for public diplomacy, a role she assumed in October 2025, according to the State Department.
In the same post, Rogers tied the agency's work to her current portfolio, writing, "Truth-telling and censorship circumvention, including in closed societies, are critical causes for me."
She continued, "They are critical functions for State. They are critical reasons why America continues to fund the media entities housed within USAGM, even in an age of flourishing private-sector media."
USAGM describes itself as America's international public service media agency and says its outlets include Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio and TV Marti, and the Open Technology Fund.
In its latest performance report, the agency said it worked in 63 languages across more than 100 foreign media markets and reached a measured weekly audience of 427 million adults outside the United States in fiscal year 2024.
The nomination follows a major legal setback for the administration after U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled Saturday that Kari Lake did not have the authority to carry out actions taken while effectively leading the agency because she had not been confirmed by the Senate.
The ruling said Lake lacked authority under the Constitution and federal vacancies law, and the decision cast doubt on sweeping personnel actions that had sharply reduced Voice of America's operations.
Rogers said the agency's leadership will remain in place until the Senate confirms her, writing, "Deputy CEO @KariLake and Acting CEO @DepSecStateMR will continue to lead USAGM pending my confirmation."
Lake, in a separate post, praised Rogers as "not only brilliant — she is a First Amendment warrior," while reports on Thursday identified Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, as the acting chief executive now steering the agency.
If confirmed, Rogers said she intends to ask senators to allow her to serve in both roles at once.
"I will work hard to gain the confidence of the Senate in this dual role," she wrote, adding that she learned from "my current boss," Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as the administration moves to install a Senate-confirmed leader at one of the government's most visible global media institutions.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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