Elon Musk Dog team The US government continues its efforts to destroy the primary agency to distribute foreign aid, its foreign employees are trapped in the limbo. United States Agency for International Development (USAID) workers are posted in dozens of different countries around the world, but reports ABC And CBS News Indicate that the majority will be called back to the United States.
In the US and abroad, the email and system access of some USAID employees have been suddenly cut off, which has made it difficult to get official information about what can happen next. “Everyone is very concerned for our foreign workers, essentially just stuck,” an current USAID employee told Wired. “We are not sure we are going to get them safe houses.”
Wired has shown internal information that the USAID leadership on Monday attempted to compile a list of foreign workers worldwide. On Tuesday, State Department's newly appointed Foreign Assistance Director PT Maroko Tapped to oversees USAID, convened with leaders of Senior State Department and with Instructed them According to CBS News, to bring all foreign employees back to America. The news outlet also stated that Maroko said that if necessary, it would vacate the employees with the support of the US Army.
According to a copy of the message reviewed by Wired, on Tuesday afternoon, USAID employees are still connected to their email accounts that the agency's Washington, DC, headquarters will remain closed for the remaining week. Some received a memorandum from Maroko, indicating that they were placed on administrative leave “otherwise until not notified.”
Usaid did not respond to the remarks requests. The state department did not respond to the requests for comments.
About this 10,000 people Work for USAID, about two-thirds of which are posted abroad, according to the US Congress Research Service, a Nonpartison Policy Research Group that serves Congress (this figure excludes “institutional support” contractors). The agency has more than 60 regional and countries missions and represents less than 1 percent of the total American federal budget.
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President Donald Trump stopped all US foreign aid soon after assuming office last month. His administration later clarified that programs can get human discounts to continue programs such as living programs such as medical and food assistance, but many organizations around the world say that confusion and confusion to this process Has been turned into chaos. Even important HIV and AIDS prevention work Is stimpedWired reported on Monday.
Earlier today, State Secretary Marco Rubio, who took the acting control of USAID on Monday, estimated that if the support organizations had any misunderstanding, it was a reflection of their disability. “If some organizations are receiving funds from the United States and do not know how to apply exemption, I have real questions about the ability of that organization,” Rubio said. He said that perhaps some groups were deliberately vandalizing the process to create “a political point”.
When he was an American senator, Rubio repeatedly supported some US foreign aid programs. “Foreign aid is not donated,” that Said on social media In 2017. “We must make sure that it is well spent, but it is less than 1% of the budget for our national security.”
In 2019, Rubio Said he was working “To get the support of the Congress for a multilateral humanitarian aid scheme so that we can get food and medicine to the victims of Venezuela.” (Florida, where is from Rubio, is home to a large Venezuela population.)
Overall, the USAID provided assistance to about 130 countries in 2023. The aid's top recipients were Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria, according to the Congress's research service.
The disintegration of USAID is part of a comprehensive “America First” agenda promoted by the new Trump administration, including pulling back from many international organizations and diplomatic efforts. On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order withdraw America from United Nations Human Rights Council.