Trump administration fires 2,000 USAID workers, puts thousands of others on leave

Washington: President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday said it was placing all but a handful of USAID personnel around the world on paid administrative leave and eliminating some 2,000 of those positions in the US, according to a notice sent to agency workers reviewed by Reuters.

Just before midnight on Sunday US Eastern Time, all United States Agency for International Development direct hire personnel with the exception of workers essential for critical functions, will be placed on leave. At the same time the agency is "beginning to implement a Reduction-in-Force" affecting about 2,000 USAID personnel in the US, the notice said.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has led an effort to gut USAID, the main delivery mechanism for American foreign assistance, a critical tool of US "soft power" for winning influence abroad.

On Friday, a federal judge 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 some 4,600 USAID personnel, career US Civil Service and Foreign Service staffers, would be placed on administrative leave.

"This administration and 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 further 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 $5.3 billion, mostly for security and counter-narcotics programs, according to a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters that included limited humanitarian relief.

USAID programs received less than $100 million in exemptions, according to the list. That compares to roughly $40 billion in USAID programs administered annually before the freeze.