The administration of US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that it was placing all personnel at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), except leaders and critical staff around the world, on paid administrative leave and eliminating 1,600 positions in the US.
All USAID direct hire personnel except essential workers would be put on leave, the agency said on its Web site. The agency is also beginning to implement a reduction-in-force affecting about 1,600 USAID personnel in the US, the notice said.
An earlier notice sent to staff and reviewed by Reuters said that about 2,000 US positions would be eliminated.
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Elon Musk’s US Department of Government Efficiency has led an effort to gut USAID, the main delivery mechanism for US foreign assistance, a critical tool of US “soft power” for winning influence abroad.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A federal judge on Friday last week cleared the way for the Trump administration to put thousands of USAID workers on leave, a setback for government employee unions that are suing over what they have called an effort to dismantle it.
Two former senior USAID officials estimated that a majority of about 4,600 USAID personnel, career US civil service and foreign service staffers, would be placed on administrative leave.
“This administration and [US] Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio are shortsighted in cutting into the expertise and unique crisis response capacity of the US,” said Marcia Wong, one of the former officials. “When disease outbreaks occur, populations displaced, these USAID experts are on the ground and first deployed to help stabilize and provide aid.”
“Unsigned notices like this are not self-implementing. They must be followed up by an individual personnel action or at least an approved leave slip, properly executed by someone with that authority,” said the second former official, who asked not to be identified.
Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe.
The administration has approved exceptions to the freeze totaling US$5.3 billion, mostly for security and counternarcotics programs, according to a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters that included limited humanitarian relief.
USAID programs received less than US$100 million in exemptions, according to the list. That compares with about US$40 billion in USAID programs administered annually before the freeze.
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