Personnel handling the State Department agency’s essential duties have been exempted.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) issued a notice on Feb. 4 instructing all direct hire personnel to be placed on “administrative leave globally” from Friday, except for those handling essential duties.
The notice, posted on USAID’s website, stated that there would be exceptions for “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”
Agency leadership will notify essential personnel expected to continue working by Feb. 6, according to the notice.
It stated that USAID is working with the State Department on a plan to coordinate the return of overseas personnel to the United States within 30 days and to terminate contractors handling non-essential work.
Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, said during a live session on the social media platform X on Monday that USAID is “beyond repair” and President Donald Trump had agreed that it should be shuttered.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has placed a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid and development funding pending reviews to align the agency with his “America First” policy platform.
His administration has also placed many senior USAID officials on administrative leave, including those who refused to comply with his foreign aid order and another order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government. There has also been a widespread layoff of contractors.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since confirmed that he has taken over as acting USAID chief, and said that he had delegated the authority to someone with whom he is in touch.
The agency’s website is offline, and its employees were instructed on Monday to stay out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington. A group of lawmakers from the Democratic Party and agency employees gathered outside the headquarters later that day to protest the administration’s decision to shut down USAID.
Congressional Democrats have argued that USAID is vital to national security and that ending the agency would harm U.S. foreign policy interests by allowing adversarial nations to fill the gaps in foreign aid.
