USAID to cut 1,600 staff, place nearly all direct hires on leave

The Trump administration is cutting 1,600 USAID personnel based in the United States while placing nearly all direct hires worldwide on administrative leave by midnight Sunday. The notice came less than 48 hours after a federal judge cleared the way for USAID’s continued dismantling, lifting a temporary restraining order that had previously blocked the Trump administration from placing staff on administrative leave. “As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” stated an internal email, which was sent to USAID staff Sunday before the notice was posted on the USAID.gov website. In that email, the agency stated it was beginning to implement a reduction-in-force that will affect approximately 2,000 USAID personnel with duty stations in the U.S. — a figure that they later shaved by 400. It isn’t clear which staff at USAID will be affected by the cuts, or why the number changed over the course of the afternoon. “Is this civil service? Foreign service? All?” asked one USAID staffer. “No clarity.” Despite the confusion, Sunday’s email — and the update on USAID’s website — made one thing clear: The bulk of the agency’s direct hires will find themselves on leave by Monday morning. That includes some staff who have been attempting to manage U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s waivers for lifesaving humanitarian aid. One employee told Devex that on Friday, they’d been left alone to manage four awards in three countries, trying — without success — to ensure those programs received the humanitarian waivers they had been eligible for. “I watched my entire team get fired last week, but I was still determined to continue the lifesaving work,” the staffer said Sunday, speaking right after they received the news. “I've now been placed on admin leave, and literally cannot do anything. I can't even monitor and manage the awards that Rubio said I could three weeks ago.” Those affected will receive further instructions and information about their benefits and rights on Feb. 23, the notice said, as will those who are expected to continue working. For those overseas, the agency “intends a voluntary Agency-funded return travel program,” with the message noting that those personnel will retain access to agency, diplomatic, and other systems until they return to the U.S. Today’s news is something that those across the agency have been bracing for. For over a month, USAID’s direct hires, contractors, and other staff have faced waves of terminations and suspensions, with many being locked out of their accounts without notice. Thousands of institutional support contractors and personal service contractors — two categories of staff that together made up more than a third of the agency — have already been sliced from USAID, decimating the agency’s bureaus for humanitarian assistance, global health, and others. In the time since, the letters on USAID’s headquarters were taken down. Staff were barred from entering their offices. There have been countless stories of chaos and confusion, with dozens of USAID employees testifying in court about a lack of safety, security, and information overseas. And despite a federal judge initially blocking the Trump administration from removing staff from their jobs, on Friday, he paved the way for them to continue doing so. “There’s more order and yet they still are producing chaos,” the first staffer told Devex. “We keep getting these big, scary emails on weekends. There’s no day free of the scare tactics and mental torture.”