The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that all its direct hire personnel will be put on administrative leave worldwide, as President orders to merge the agency with the State Department come into force.
In a statement on its website late on Tuesday, the agency said it was currently putting together a plan, alongside the State Department, to recall USAID personnel stationed abroad within 30 days.
“The Agency will consider case-by-case exceptions and return travel extensions based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons,” the statement read. This would include dependents’ school term schedules, medical needs and pregnancy.
The decision to put staff on leave will exclude “personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”
“Thank you for your service,” said the organization, which has been providing humanitarian assistance worldwide as a form of US soft power since it was established in 1961.
Trump as soon as he was inaugurated and tasked billionaire whom he appointed as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with scaling down USAID.
Musk has called USAID “a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America” and has vowed to shut it down.
The agency’s website was down during the weekend, and only returned on Tuesday to announce the leaves.
USAID has a workforce of over 10,000, with some two-thirds serving overseas in more than 60 country and regional missions, as per figures from the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
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