USAID direct hires put on leave worldwide, except those deemed essential

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is placing U.S. Agency for International Development direct-hire staffers around the world on leave, except those deemed essential.

A notice posted online Tuesday gives the workers 30 days to return home and targets the aid agency’s six-decade mission overseas.

Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programs worldwide shut down after President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance after taking office.

Elon Musk’s budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency had taken USAID’s website offline over the weekend as it steadily dismantled the agency, which has been a special target of Musk, Trump and Republicans in the first two-and-a-half weeks of Trump’s second term. The website came back online Tuesday night, with the notice of recall or termination for global staffers its sole post.

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.

The decision to withdraw direct-hire staff and their families earlier than their planned departures will likely cost the government tens of millions of dollars in travel and relocation costs.