Scoop: USAID employees told to ‘pause’ public communications

At least some USAID workers were told to cease all public communications about their work in the lead-up to U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Devex obtained an email from last weekend where a USAID country office employee told members of an organization they partner with that they received “clear guidance” from colleagues in Washington, D.C., that until further notice, effective Jan. 20, they must pause all public communications. It’s unclear from the email whether the guidance is intended to extend to the public communications of implementing partners. It’s also unclear how widespread this messaging was dispersed among USAID employees and their partners. The agency did not respond to Devex’s request for comment by the time of publication. An employee from the organization that received the email told Devex that they’ve never personally seen communication like this in their many years working for the partner organization. This messaging comes at a time when the future of the agency’s work is uncertain as an American administration committed to focusing inward resumes office. Following his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order that calls for a 90-day pause in disbursements of foreign aid “for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.” The decision will then be whether to continue, modify, or cease foreign assistance programs based on these reviews. “The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values,” it wrote.