USAID’s workforce will be slashed to just 294 people — a reduction of over 95% of its staff — according to three sources and an email shared by Atul Gawande, USAID’s former head of global health, on Thursday afternoon.
“Rubio claims that @USAID lifesaving assistance for health and humanitarian needs will continue,” Gawande posted on the social media platform X, referring to Secretary of State and now acting USAID Administrator Marco Rubio. “But his team just communicated that the entire agency will be imminently reduced from 14,000 to 294 people.”
An internal chart laid out the specifics: USAID will have 78 staff members in its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, 77 in its Bureau for Global Health, 75 on its management team, 21 focused on the Middle East, 12 assigned to Africa, 10 focused on Europe and Eurasia, eight working on Asia, and eight focused on Latin America and the Caribbean.
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.
