Trump Admin Placing Almost All USAID Employees On Leave As Musk Looks To Cut Agency

The Trump administration will place almost all U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on administrative leave on Friday as it evaluates the agency’s role and how it distributes taxpayer dollars. 

The agency posted on its website on Tuesday that all of its “direct hire personnel” would be on administrative leave starting February 7 at 11:59 p.m. “with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.” Those who will not be placed on leave will be told by Thursday at 3:00 p.m. 

In recent days, USAID has been under intense scrutiny from the Trump administration and Elon Musk, who has been tasked with heading up President Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” program. Musk said on Monday that Trump had given him the go-ahead to start shutting down the agency because of its wasteful spending on ideological projects. Shortly after, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was named acting administrator for USAID.

“They have basically evolved into an agency that believes that they’re not even a U.S. government agency, that they are out — they’re a global charity, that they take the taxpayer money, and they spend it as a global charity irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not in the national interest,” Rubio said. 

The agency, which has some 10,000 employees, said it was developing a plan to arrange and pay for all USAID employees overseas to return to the U.S. After that, it would examine ending all contracts with employees “that are not determined to be essential.” 

“The Agency will consider case-by-case exceptions and return travel extensions based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons. For example, the Agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons,” the agency said. “Further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming.”

“Thank you for your service,” the posted message concluded. 

The potential dissolution of USAID comes just days after Musk started highlighting the ways the agency allocated funding in recent years, arguing it should be completely gutted. 

“It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm in it,” Musk said during a discussion on X with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”

According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, USAID recently spent $1.5 million to push DEI in Serbia, $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia, and $32,000 on a transgender-themed comic book in Peru.