By Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team is finalizing the dismantlement of the U.S. Agency for International Development, ordering the firings of thousands of local workers and American diplomats and civil servants assigned to the agency overseas, two former top USAID officials and a source with knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday.
On Friday, Congress was notified that almost all of USAID’s own employees are being fired by September, all of its overseas offices shut, and some functions absorbed into the State Department.
The latest move by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effectively will eliminate what is left of the agency’s workforce.
“This is definitely the final closing out,” said one of the former senior USAID officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Musk in February began the process of shuttering USAID and merging its operations into the State Department to ensure they conformed with Trump’s “America First” policies. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The former officials and source familiar with the situation said on condition of anonymity that USAID’s human resources office told regional bureaus in a conference call that layoff notices were going to all of the more than 10,000 locally-hired foreign nationals, effective in August.
Notices also will be sent to U.S. diplomats and civil servants assigned to work abroad for what has been the leading U.S. foreign aid provider for more than 60 years, they said.
Trump has claimed without evidence that the agency was rife with fraud and run by “radical left lunatics,” while Musk falsely accused it of being a “criminal” organization.
Thousands of USAID’s own staff were placed on administrative leave – they received layoff notices on Friday – hundreds of contractors fired and more than 5,000 programs terminated, disrupting global humanitarian aid efforts on which millions depend.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, USAID maintains missions in more than 60 countries, with most of its funds going to humanitarian aid and health programs.
Top recipients included war-torn Ukraine and Democratic Republic of Congo, U.S. ally Jordan, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the combat-shattered Gaza Strip.
A summary of the conference call circulated by one regional bureau and reviewed by Reuters confirmed the terminations of all locally-hired foreign nationals and American diplomats and civil servants on assignment with USAID abroad.
It said more than 600 U.S. diplomats are on secondment to USAID overseas, but provided no figure for the number of U.S. civil service members. Most are to be terminated in July, when the intent is to close “all programmatic work.”
“Every position eliminated; 100 percent of the agency is rif’d (Reduction in Force) or will be,” the summary said, and advised personnel that no one would be retained and to “focus on things to make sure you’re getting the right benefits.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Don Durfee and Deepa Babington)
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