Posted on 02/06/2025 3:47:49 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
The Trump administration will reduce the number of workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development from more than 10,000 to about 290 positions, three people with knowledge of the plans said on Thursday.
The small remaining staff includes employees who specialize in health and humanitarian assistance, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly discuss the cuts.
A spokeswoman for the State Department, whose umbrella the remnants of the agency have moved under, did not immediately return a request for comment.
U.S.A.I.D. officials were also told on Thursday that about 800 awards and contracts administered through the agency were being canceled, the three people said.
The moves also came just one day before almost all of the agency’s direct hires, including its roster of Foreign Service officers, will be put on indefinite administrative leave, while almost all contractors will see their work orders terminated. Foreign Service officers will have 30 days to return to the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took control of U.S.A.I.D. as its acting administrator on Monday, insisted during a Fox News interview this week that the takeover was “not about getting rid of foreign aid.”
“But now we have rank insubordination,” he said, adding that U.S.A.I.D. employees had been “completely uncooperative, so we had no choice but to take dramatic steps to bring this thing under control.”
On Thursday, he reiterated the promise that some workers would be offered exemptions to minimize the hardship of the sudden recall. The pledge was made first in a notice put on the U.S.A.I.D. website Tuesday night, announcing employees around the globe would be put on administrative leave or let go by Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Nary a U-Haul to be found in Northern Virginia, LOL!
Imagine if 97% of each gov agency is simply gone. The savings all the way around would be phenomenal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.