Hundreds of workers involved in addressing urgent global emergencies have recently been removed from the United States’ primary aid agency, according to information provided by two federal officials and four former employees of the organization.
Those dismissals have brought more concern about whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio is upholding his commitment to ensure that staff at the United States Agency for International Development, known as U.S.A.I.D., can continue their humanitarian missions.
He had made that promise late last month, even after foreign assistance from the government was paused almost entirely.
Contractors and Systems Shut Down at U.S.A.I.D.
Thousands of employees at U.S.A.I.D. have either been placed on paid leave or removed from their jobs by Trump’s political appointees.
A special team of young engineers working under Elon Musk, who is offering advice to President Trump, has disabled vital technical systems within the agency and denied workers access to their official email accounts.
On his social media pages, Mr. Musk has also shared unsupported accusations, calling U.S.A.I.D. a “criminal organization” and claiming that its existence should be ended.
On Friday night, the latest batch of job terminations took place, targeting staff under the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. Workers received termination messages via email.
Two recipients said the emails were odd because no job titles were included, and their names were not listed in the address fields. The emails were part of a mass mailing without personal identification.
A review of one of those emails and confirmed what the workers described. The individuals who shared details for the report requested anonymity because they did not want to risk losing their final 15 days of pay. The two officials inside the government also chose not to be named due to fears of punishment.
More Cuts Inside the Agency
According to accounts from U.S. officials and former workers, 36 more people were let go from the Office of Transition Initiatives. That office operates within the agency’s conflict prevention section and supports democratic development and political change abroad.
Altogether, one official said around 400 humanitarian assistance personnel have recently lost their jobs. Half of them were contractors working with the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, and the other half belonged to the Support Relief Group. This group consists of trained professionals who respond to disasters and violent conflicts. Now, only about twelve people are left in that entire unit.
All of the dismissed staff were working as contractors directly under the U.S. government. Some of them had been part of U.S.A.I.D. for more than two decades, offering various levels of support throughout their careers.
Veterans of Conflict Zones Lose Roles
Many of those released from the Support Relief Group had operated in conflict areas like Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine. These employees moved frequently and were often stationed in dangerous places for extended periods.
One person who received a termination notice said they would soon be flown home from a U.S. diplomatic assignment abroad.
Another dismissed worker explained that the volume of firings had left the agency without enough trained professionals to manage serious humanitarian emergencies.
Agency Leadership and Future Plans
At the moment, Pete Marocco is leading U.S.A.I.D.’s daily operations. He is a State Department official responsible for foreign assistance and was seen as a controversial figure during Trump’s first term. Earlier in the month, Mr. Rubio revealed that he would act as interim leader of the agency.
According to Mr. Rubio, there will be a 90-day freeze on all foreign assistance while the aid programs undergo a review. But many individuals still working in this sector believe the freeze will become permanent. They also expect more job losses and believe that U.S.A.I.D. may soon be merged with the State Department.
Although U.S.A.I.D. was created through legislation passed by Congress and lawmakers allocated money for aid this year, few Republican representatives have spoken against either the suspension or the dismissals. Foreign assistance only represents a tiny portion of the national budget, less than one percent.
Aid Programs Stuck Even With Waivers
Mr. Rubio made a statement in January allowing workers to request waivers for continuing their assistance programs, especially ones meant to save lives, during the freeze. But only a small number of such requests have been accepted.
And for those that were approved, the programs still cannot proceed. That is because the agency’s financial software, Phoenix, has been disabled, making it impossible to release funds to their partners.
