USAID to put nearly all staff on leave Friday; overseas missions shuttering
Washington — Nearly all staff for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, will be placed on leave Friday night, the agency announced on its website Tuesday night. Earlier in the day, all overseas missions for USAID had been ordered to shut down, and all staff recalled by Friday, multiple sources confirmed to CBS News.
The statement notes that all "direct-hire personnel" will be placed on leave with exceptions for those on "mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs." Those considered exceptions will be notified by USAID leadership by 3 p.m. ET Thursday, and further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming, the email said.
The statement notes the agency is developing a plan with the State Department to arrange and pay for return travel within 30 days for USAID personnel posted outside the U.S. The email states PSC (personal service contractor) contracts and ISC (independent service contractor) contracts "that are determined to be inessential will be terminated."
It also says they will consider "case-by-case" exceptions and return travel extensions based on "personal or family hardship, mobility, or safety concerns."
A list circulating within USAID with the number of employees at each bureau deemed essential in the field and at headquarters showed a total of 294 people out of the roughly 14,000 USAID workers, sources told CBS News. Several bureaus — such as Resilience, Environment and Food Security (REFS); Conflict Prevention and Stabilization; Planning, Learning and Resource Management; and smaller officers like the general counsel — were completely absent from the list. Those working in REFS were told they are being terminated, sources told CBS News.
Emails notifying people whether they are "essential" were supposed to go out Thursday by 3 p.m. ET, per the notice emailed to staff and put on the USAID.gov website.
On Tuesday night, multiple USAID staffers based in the agency's Capital headquarters informed CBS News that they had received a separate email notifying them that they had been placed on paid administrative leave.
Sources told CBS News that it was believed the letters had gone out to a vast majority of the headquarters' employees. A copy of the memo provided to CBS News notes that employees must remain "available" by telephone and email during business hours, but are prohibited from entering USAID buildings.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed deputy administrator for the agency, Pete Marocco, met with State Department leadership on Tuesday and instructed them to get every USAID employee out of their respective countries worldwide by Friday, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Marocco said that if the State Department did not, the staff would be evacuated by the U.S. military, the sources said.
USAID has more than 10,000 employees, with about two-thirds serving overseas, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Some 1,400 work in the agency's D.C. headquarters. The agency maintains more than 60 country and regional missions.
The agency provides humanitarian aid to more than 100 countries, including disaster relief, health and medical aid, and emergency food programs.
Furthermore, all D.C.-area USAID buildings in the capital's northern region remain closed this week, according to an email shared with CBS News by multiple USAID staffers and contractors. The closures for USAID buildings in Washington, D.C., have been expanded to include facilities in both Springfield, Virginia and Leesburg, Virginia.
The Trump administration has targeted USAID as the president and his allies — including billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — seek to cut the size of the federal government.
The future of the agency — which was established in 1961 to combat poverty, strengthen democracy and protect human rights and global health — is now uncertain.
Musk has said the agency should be shut down, arguing that it's "beyond repair."
When asked Tuesday whether he would wind down USAID, Trump told reporters, "It sounds like it." The president also praised Musk for scrutinizing the agency.
"Look at all the fraud that he's found," Mr. Trump said, adding that funding has gone to "all sorts of groups that shouldn't deserve to get any money."
But Dr. Atul Gawande, former USAID Global Health director, told CBS News the move to target the agency is "dangerous for the country."
"What we're talking about are disaster relief workers, we're talking about health workers and people who are doing good and protecting America around the world," Gawande said. "You're talking about 20 million people in the global HIV program that has reduced HIV around the world, they are going without medication that keeps them alive. You're talking about disease outbreaks that are not being stopped, like bird flu, where monitoring has been turned off in 49 countries."
In fiscal year 2023, USAID managed more than $40 billion in appropriations, the Congressional Research Service said, an amount that is less than 1% of the overall federal budget.
Most of that funding went to governance programs, intended to help develop and strengthen democratic governance, followed by humanitarian and health programs, according to the report. The countries that received the most money in fiscal year 2023 were Ukraine, Ethiopia and Jordan.
Staff recalls also include the agency's foreign service officers, who spend years abroad, often with their families. They'll have to figure out logistics for their children who are in school, housing, moving their belongings and where they'll move to in the U.S.
