A senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development was placed on leave Sunday, two days after he issued an internal memo stating the U.S. government had failed to deliver promised lifesaving assistance due to decisions made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s political appointees.
“USAID’s failure to implement lifesaving humanitarian assistance under the waiver is the result of political leadership at USAID, the Department of State, and DOGE, who have created and continue to create intentional and/or unintentional obstacles that have wholly prevented implementation,” wrote Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for USAID’s global health bureau, on Feb. 28. “This will no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale.”
Enrich’s memo came one month after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio first announced that organizations delivering “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” could apply for a waiver to continue doing so. In theory, that waiver system would allow programs to sidestep Trump’s blanket freeze on foreign assistance and deliver critical humanitarian aid.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
