Updated February 4th, 2025 at 22:18 PM Eastern Standard Time
The Trump administration has staffed all of its staff at the US International Development Agency on Administrative Leave at 11:59pm on Friday, according to a new directive sent to all agency staff and posted on the USAID website.
The unsigned message stated that the designated people had the exception: “We are responsible for mission-critical capabilities, core leadership and specially designated programs.” The agency's leadership said it will notify “critical personnel expected to continue working” by Thursday afternoon.
The note ended with the words “Thank you for your service.”
A senior USAID official spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, saying it was “essentially closing USAID.”
The latest move has curtailed more than two weeks of disruption for the agency, where President Trump and his adviser Elon Musk said they were in the process of demolishing it. The agency's website was taken offline last weekend.
“They really weakened America tonight,” another USAID official said. “We may not see it tomorrow, but we will see it in the end, people in Beijing and Moscow are laughing tonight.”
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The State Department referred questions to a statement posted to the USAID website.
Earlier on Tuesday, the State Department began the process of withdrawing all USAID officials stationed abroad, according to three sources with knowledge of internal planning.
“We are tasked with helping USAID employees recall the US by Saturday,” Seth Green, Deputy Director of State for Global Operations, wrote in an email to State Department staff on Tuesday afternoon. I did.
It continued: “I understand the concerns of feasibility and the emotional sacrifices this has to offer on the support of the people and teams that have been affected. We immediately took a look at the OPS Center's Task Force Space. We were asked to staff members with a 24/7 coordination support team that begins.”
The email said another State Department official would reach out to find volunteers and coordinate scheduling.
Notes to all agency staff later Tuesday extended that timeline. “The agency is currently working with the Mission and the State Department to prepare plans in accordance with all requirements and laws, under which the agency will arrange and pay a return trip to the US within 30 days. “”
For USAID overseas staff, the agency considers case-by-case expansion based on difficulties, the message includes “the timing of dependent semester, personal or family medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons.” I stated.
The memo said contract staff, deemed essential, would be terminated.
The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs, a union representing federal foreign service employees, was called “unnecessary and dramatic action” in an email to members Tuesday. “AFSA is deeply interested in the administration's sudden decision to evacuate all USAID foreign services personnel and their families from missions around the world,” the email said.
“AFSA has a legal right to negotiate changes to the terms of employment,” he said. It explores a “legal path” to protect its members, urging USAID leadership to “maintain responsibility under federal labor laws.”
“Logistically challenging and very expensive”
USAID staff protested outside the agency's Washington headquarters on Monday. They were joined by Democrats who opposed the impact of Musk and his cost-cutting team, Doge. Musk has been posting on Platform X for days about calling USAID a “crime organisation” and closing its agency.
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Late Monday night, the memo is leaving State Department employees to ask that overseas missions provide a number of USAID employees and dependents at their own locations.
According to a January 2025 report from Congressional Research Services, roughly two-thirds of USAID's 10,000 employees work overseas on missions in more than 60 countries and regions.
Sudden recalls from overseas staff will plan to see where employees should go, how to arrange pet care, take children out of school, allow spouses to make arrangements, and send their belongings behind It's only been left for a few weeks. example. Meanwhile, withdrawing more than 1,000 foreign service officers and their families is likely to be extremely expensive, several diplomatic sources told NPR.
“It's logistically challenging, very expensive and won't be silent,” said a USAID employee who is not allowed to speak publicly. “For example, many people have kids at school.”
“The last time we tried to do this was during Covid, and it was impossible to do it quickly,” said Susan Reichl, a retired USAID employee.
In countries where USAID pays for operational costs for US missions, such as Egypt and South Africa, the Trump administration's funding freeze has already prevented the use of the USAID fund. As such, employees inside and outside of USAID fear that they will soon lose access to electricity, communications, security backup, garbage pickup, medical evacuation and other services.
Trump could review the USAID program, delegating masks and clumsy to scale back the agency, and move inside the State Department. Trump has denounced agencies distributing humanitarian aid, corruption and fraud around the world with billions of dollars of humanitarian aid. He stated a list of global outreach programs that he opposed as examples of those claims without providing concrete evidence of misuse or misconduct.
Even before Tuesday's action, numerous USAID employees had already taken leave, restricting access to the workspace and ordered all work to be stopped. Hundreds of independent contractors have been fired or fasted. Guidance for employees is inconsistent, unclear, and terrifying and confusing among staff around the world.
“It's so stupid and dangerous,” one USAID employee told NPR. “We have not destroyed more goodwill and trust in such a short time.”
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