Alone muscus Government efficiency department (DOGE) has taken a team of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) More than 10,000 According to an internal email viewed by wired and many current USAID employees, just less than 300.
The move leaves only 12 people in the agency's bureau of Africa and eight people in its Asia Bureau, with a total of about 290 people. Some additional foreign workers will be retained, two USAID employees tell Wired, but it is not clear how many.
A USAID employee says, “There are even more worse people in Asia, and our presence has always helped to combat China's influence.” agency.
On Tuesday, USAID workers Get an email Given that all personnel will be placed on administrative leave starting on Friday, 7 February, with the exception of “Mission-Critical Tasks”. Soon after, the notice was published on the agency's website. It was also specified that the workers of the agency deployed abroad would be recalled back to the United States.
The USAID and the US State Department did not immediately respond to the remarks request.
It was not an unexpected step. There is a special goal in the crosshair of the USAID Musk, with Centibilionaire Call it A “criminal outfit” on X and on Proud “About feeding it through a wooden chip.”
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President Donald Trump has been hostile as the agency. After assuming the post last month, his first action was to sign an executive order to freeze foreign aid, most of which have been implemented by USAID. Already, change has stopped the anti-human trafficking work, including projects that help people avoid labor compounds where they are enslaved and forced to commit digital fraud, Is wired Informed On Wednesday.
Although the administration later clarified that the “lifestyle” work would be allowed to continue under an emergency exemption program, the agency's chaotic acquisition has made it impossible in practice. As wired Informed On Monday, the work of vital HIV/AIDS has been disrupted, in which workers on land in countries like Haiti are unable to reach antiretroviral drugs – even though most of that work was technically exempted.
Meanwhile, some existing employees deployed abroad have not yet been informed about the latest changes of the agency. “The only official communication that I have received is from the people of the local embassy Foreign Department facilities, asking whether or when we were going out so that they can renew our homes,” call a USAID worker.