The Trump administration announced plans to withdraw almost all USAID workers from field operations globally, effectively ending the agency's six-decade mission of fighting starvation, funding education, and combating epidemics. The move, part of a broader effort to shrink the federal government, has drawn criticism from Democrats and raised concerns about the impact on US-funded aid and development projects worldwide.
Solar panels funded by United States Agency for International Development are seen in the Lebanese-Syrian border town of Majdal Anjar, eastern Bekaa valley, Lebanon, Nov. 9, 2022.
The move had been rumored for several days and was the most extreme of several proposals considered for consolidating the agency into the State Department. Other options had included closures of smaller USAID missions and partial closures of larger ones. Health programs like those credited with helping end polio and smallpox epidemics and an acclaimed HIV/AIDS program that saved more than 20 million lives in Africa already have stopped. So have monitoring and deployments of rapid-response teams for contagious diseases such as an Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
Staff being placed on leave include both foreign and civil service officers who have legal protection against arbitrary dismissal and being placed on leave without reason.
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