USAID to be reduced to about 290 foreign service officers and civil servants
Photo by Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The U.S. Agency of International Development is expected to be reduced to about 290 workers from the more than 5,000 foreign service officers, civil servants and personal service contractors it currently employs, according to two sources familiar with the plans, AmericanDiary24.com reports via NBC News.
Most of the approximately 3,000 institutional support contractors have already been fired or furloughed. The status of the approximately 5,000 foreign service nationals serving around the world is not yet clear.
The bureaus of Humanitarian Assistance, Global Health and Management are expected to retain the most staff members, but under the expected plan, only 12 people would be dedicated to the entire continent of Africa and eight people for all of Asia.
Europe, which had about 600 dedicated employees between both the field and the Washington, D.C., offices last year, will now be served by just 10 people.
Thousands of USAID employees learned they would be placed on administrative leave starting at 11:59 p.m. Friday through a message posted on USAID.gov this week. USAID personnel overseas were given 30 days to return to the United States.
Asked about additional guidance for USAID employees facing uncertainty, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the actions were not meant to be "disruptive."
“We’re not trying to be disruptive to people’s personal lives,” Rubio told reporters in Santo Domingo on Thursday during a joint media availability with Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader. “We’re not trying to — we’re not being punitive here, but this is the only way we’ve been able to get cooperation from USAID."
He said exceptions would be made for employees with extraordinary circumstances, saying, “We didn’t list them all, but we’re willing to listen to those.”
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