The order came a day after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order gutting the government-funded media outlet's parent and six other federal agencies.
The White House said the orders "will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda", before listing criticisms of VOA, including allegations of left-wing bias.
Michael Abramowitz, Voice of America's (VOA) director, said that nearly his entire staff of 1300 journalists, producers and assistants had been put on administrative leave, crippling a media broadcaster that operates in nearly 50 languages.
"I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced," Abramowitz said in a post on LinkedIn, saying it has played an important role "in the fight for freedom and democracy around the world".
VOA's parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), also terminated its grants to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which broadcasts to countries in Eastern Europe, including Russia and Ukraine, as well as to Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts to China and North Korea.
Trump's directives will devastate an organisation of significant reach, including in authoritarian countries where it may serve as a rare source of reliable news.
Founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA now reaches 350 million people weekly in nearly 50 languages.
Including some 1000 VOA workers, USAGM employed roughly 3500 and had an $US886-million ($A1.4 billion) budget in 2024.
On its website, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty notes that it has been declared an "undesirable organisation" by the Russian government and warns readers in Russia and Russia-occupied Ukraine that they could "face fines or imprisonment" for liking or sharing its content.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said Radio Free Europe had been a "beacon" for populations under totalitarian rule.
"From Belarus to Iran, from Russia to Afghanistan, RFE and Voice of America are among the few free sources for people living without freedom," he wrote on X.
The move follows Trump signing an executive order on Friday instructing USAGM and six other agencies to reduce their operations to the minimum mandated by law.
Kari Lake, the former news anchor and Trump loyalist nominated to be director of VOA, issued a statement describing USAGM as "a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer" and said it was "not salvageable".
 Lake said she would shrink the agency to its minimum possible size under the law.
The president of the National Press Club Mike Balsamo, said the cuts undermined America's commitment to a free and independent press.
"For decades, Voice of America has delivered fact-based, independent journalism to audiences worldwide, often in places where press freedom does not exist," Balsamo said.
Reporters Without Borders director general, Thibaut Bruttin, said the move "threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of information".
Radio Free Asia's president, Bay Fang, said that the cancellation of its funding was "a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party, who would like nothing better than to have their influence go unchecked".
Tech billionaire Elon Musk whose Department of Government Efficiency is tasked with shrinking the government, made light of the cuts.
"While winding down this global government propaganda agency, it has temporarily been renamed the Department of Propaganda Everywhere (DOPE)," he wrote on X.
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