Trump will double USAID staff numbers to 600, up from 300 yesterday

The Trump administration has flip-flopped on how many staff members will remain at the U.S. Agency for International Development, bumping the workforce from less than 300 to over 600 in less than 24 hours. That’s according to an internal notice, originally reported by Reuters and confirmed by a former USAID official, who stated that 600 people have been notified they will keep their USAID access past today. “It just speaks to the incompetence and complete lack of thought behind the takeover of USAID,” said the former USAID official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity at a virtual press conference organized by former and current USAID staff members on Friday morning. “If they knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t have to walk this back and change it.” It’s a doubling of what USAID’s front office had planned just one day earlier — but down from more than 13,000 just three weeks ago. Yesterday, an email from the agency’s front office revealed it had planned to slash its workforce by more than 95%, leaving just 12 people to cover the entire continent of Africa. The change is yet another sign of the chaos swirling across the world’s largest bilateral donor, and the layers of confusion affecting its staff members across the world. For the last two weeks, thousands have been placed on administrative leave, while thousands more have been locked out of their accounts, given no notice — or no information — about what that meant for their jobs. “We are unsure if Secretary Rubio and President Trump are going to abandon us overseas, or abandon us when we land on American soil,” said one USAID staffer in Asia, speaking at Friday’s press conference. She added that no help was planned for USAID staffers who are pregnant, and that families had been told “there is no money to assist USAID families that are awaiting the arrival of our infants with resettlement in the U.S.” On Feb. 5, the USAID website was updated to announce nearly all the agency’s direct hires would be placed on administrative leave two days later. And while the website has since been updated to say USAID and the Department of State were preparing a plan to bring staff members posted overseas back to the United States, as of Friday morning, it seemed none of that information had been shared with those it actually affects. “At this time, we have not received any official guidance from Washington on how this transition will be managed, including details of travel arrangements, how it will be funded, or what happens after 30 days,” stated one email from the State Department, responding to an inquiry from a USAID staffer that is supposed to be flown out of their post on Saturday. “I have heard that there is a task force in place with State and USAID colleagues working to manage the process, though I have not received any formal communication from them.”