Newsman: excluding essential personnel, about 10,000 employees of the United States Agency for International Development, were notified Tuesday they will be placed on administrative leave at the end of Friday as President Donald Trump moves to dismantle the foreign aid agency.
A State Department notice to USAID employees ‒ two-thirds of whom work overseas across 60 countries ‒ said all USAID “direct hire personnel” across the world will be placed on administrative leave effective Friday, Feb. 7 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The only exception is for designated personnel responsible for “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”
The State Department is working on a plan to arrange and pay for the return of USAID employees living overseas back to the United States within 30 days and to terminate contracts not deemed essential, the notice reads. Extensions for their return to the United States will be considered “based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons.”
“Thank you for your service,” it concludes.
The USAID’s Washington headquarters was shut down Monday and the foreign aid agency merge it into the State Department. Secretary State Marco Rubio was named USAID’s acting director.
Trump confirmed his intentions to wind down the agency in remarks to reporters Tuesday, calling the USAID “corrupt.”
An independent agency established by Congress in 1998, USAID has a $40 bllion budget that is funded by Congress.
