Humanitarian assistance experts have warned agency’s demise will harm vulnerable people and weaken US soft power.
The administration of United States President Donald Trump is moving to fire or place on leave nearly all employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
All USAID employees, with the exception of “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs”, will be placed on “administrative leave globally” from 11:59pm EST on Sunday (04:59 GMT Monday), the aid agency said in a notice on its website.
The process of laying off about 1,600 US-based personnel will take place concurrently, according to the notice.
“Individuals that are impacted will receive specific notifications on February 23, 2025, with further instructions and information about their benefits and rights,” the notice said.
“Designated essential personnel who are expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership February 23, 2025, by 5 pm EST [22:00 GMT].”
An earlier notice sent to employees had said about 2,000 US-based jobs would be eliminated.
No reason was provided for the discrepancy.
The move comes after a US judge on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to push ahead with its plans to call back thousands of USAID staffers from overseas within 30 days.
“For overseas personnel, USAID intends a voluntary Agency-funded return travel program and other benefits,” USAID’s website said in its notice.
“USAID is committed to keeping its overseas personnel safe. Until they return home, personnel will retain access to Agency systems and to diplomatic and other resources. In the coming week, we will provide details on how to retrieve personal items from the former USAID workspaces and return government issued devices.”
Led by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration has moved to effectively dismantle the main agency for disbursing US humanitarian assistance abroad.
Musk – who has called USAID a “criminal organization” and a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America” – and other Trump allies have claimed the agency is rife with waste and fraud, and pursues a liberal ideological agenda that is outside the scope of its mission.
Former USAID officials and humanitarian workers have decried Trump’s move, warning that the demise of the aid agency will harm millions of vulnerable people worldwide and weaken US soft power.
“Eliminating US unique response capacity of crisis experts who help contain disease outbreaks, stabilise displaced populations – a shortsighted, high risk and frankly, stupid act,” Marcia Wong, a former deputy assistant administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, said on X.
USAID, established in 1961 by former US President John F Kennedy, is the world’s biggest single donor of humanitarian aid, disbursing more than half of Washington’s $72bn foreign aid budget in 2023.
