Updated February 24, 2025 at 09:37 AM ET
The Trump administration is putting nearly all of USAID's 4,700 full-time employees on paid administrative leave at midnight Sunday and will subsequently terminate 1,600 of those positions as part of a "reduction in force," according to a memo that was widely distributed to agency staff Sunday afternoon and later published on the USAID website.
The memo says that the terminated positions will be U.S.-based.
In addition, it states that there will be a "voluntary" program for full-time employees stationed abroad to return to the United States.
Employees put on leave will continue to have access to email to monitor "for further guidance" but are not allowed to access agency files without permission. Employees stationed abroad will have access to "agency systems and to diplomatic and other resources," the memo said.
The memo, sent from the office of the administrator, stated that there would be exceptions for "designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs." No specifics were provided on these exceptions.
It did note: "In the coming week, we will provide details on how to retrieve personal items from the former USAID workspaces and return government issued devices."
This announcement comes after a federal judge allowed the Trump administration to proceed with its plan to put thousands of USAID staff on paid administrative leave and bring back the agency's foreign service officers in international posts within 30 days.
That plan was first announced on Feb. 4, but unions representing agency employees sued the government and challenged the administration's moves to dismantle America's aid agency, which supports development and humanitarian projects overseas.
The unions argued that dismantling the agency and putting people on leave would endanger overseas staff, many of whom are in conflict zones, by cutting them off from government communication and medical and diplomatic resources.
On Feb. 7, in response to the union's lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols issued a pause on the move.
After two hearings, Judge Nichols said the unions failed to prove that this plan would cause irreparable harm to the employees and on Feb. 21, he removed his temporary block.
This is the latest development in the administration's effort to significantly downsize USAID. Prior to Trump's inauguration, more than 10,000 people worked at USAID. Most of them are contractors who have already been laid off in the past weeks. Only a few hundred people will be allowed to continue working, according to sources who spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.
One USAID employee, who works on emergency food assistance in a number of countries and is now on paid administrative leave, says, "I feel traumatized, wronged and abused as a public servant." The employee asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
Employees began receiving termination letters on Sunday night. Their last day will be April 24, according to the form letter, which was obtained by NPR.
"To start sending these [letters] out at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night was horrendous," the food assistance employee said. "I've been up the whole night refreshing email as I watch my colleagues get terminated," they added, referring to jobs that are being eliminated as part of this action.
Copyright 2025 NPR
