Trump Admin Chooses the Nuclear Option for Key Federal Agency
USAID staff were told to pack up shortly after Elon Musk announced he was shuttering the agency.
AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration has shown staff the door at America’s aid agency across the globe.
Direct hires of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will be placed on leave just before midnight on Friday, according to a statement published on its website Tuesday night.
The announcement came after Elon Musk declared that he was shuttering the agency that provides billions in humanitarian support worldwide, branding it a “criminal organization.”
The order covers all staff globally but exempts “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”
USAID said it was working with the State Department and its missions to “arrange and pay for return travel” for staff posted outside the U.S.
Case-by-case exceptions would be made based on personal, family, mobility, or safety concerns, the agency said.
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USAID employs over 10,000 workers, two-thirds of whom are posted overseas, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Musk has targeted USAID as part of his efforts to cut down government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency, calling the agency “a ball of worms. There is no apple... that is why it’s gotta go. It’s beyond repair.”
President Donald Trump appears to be on board with his billionaire sidekick’s plan, telling reporters on Sunday that USAID had “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out... and then we’ll make a decision (on its future).”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was appointed acting administrator of USAID in a bid to reform to agency.
Senate Democrats have plotted payback for the Trump administration’s dramatic USAID shake-up, with Sen. Brian Schatz announcing a “blanket hold” on all of the president’s State Department nominees.
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