USAID mission to close: report

Most United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employees around the world will be placed on administrative leave, the agency said Tuesday, amid reports that its overseas missions had reportedly been told to shut down and that staffers were being recalled to the United States by Friday. 

CBS News reported that Peter Marocco, the director of foreign assistance at the State Department who was tapped by State Department Secretary Marco Rubio to run USAID, told the agency’s leadership that those who do not comply will be evacuated by the military. 

In a statement, USAID said designated personnel responsible for “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs” would keep working. 

“For USAID personnel currently posted outside the United States, the Agency, in coordination with missions and the Department of State, is currently preparing a plan, in accordance with all applicable requirements and laws, under which the Agency would arrange and pay for return travel to the United States within 30 days and provide for the termination of PSC and ISC contracts that are not determined to be essential,” a USAID statement said. 

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“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,” it added. 

The agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons, it said. 

USAID has come under scrutiny by the Trump administration over what it is spending. 

“For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,” the White House said Monday. 

USAID allocated millions of dollars for programs the Trump administration considers controversial and that frequently involved diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives launched during the Biden administration, critics say.

During an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday, Rubio said USAID has “basically evolved into an agency that believes that they’re not even a U.S. government agency.”

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“That they are a global charity. That they take the taxpayer money and spend it as a global charity, irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not in the national interest,” he said. 

The goal was always to reform the agency, Rubio said, but that “now we have rank insubordination.” 

“Their basic attitude is: ‘We don’t work for anyone. We work for ourselves’,” he said. “‘No agency of government can tell us what to do’.”

Rubio said a common complaint among U.S. embassies around the world is that USAID isn’t cooperative and “undermines the work that we’re doing.”

On Tuesday, Sen. Jodi Ernst, R-Iowa, said every dollar given to USAID needs to be scrutinized.

In a series of posts on X, Erst noted millions in aid that were allegedly funneled to fund good causes ended up in the hands of bad actors. 

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She noted $9 million in humanitarian aid to feed civilians in Syria that allegedly ended up in the hands of terrorists, as well as another $2 million spent on Moroccan pottery classes and promotion. 

Other projects included trade assistance to Ukraine to pay for models to attend Fashion Weeks events in New York City, London and Paris and millions spent to help Afghans grow crops instead of opium. 

“The results: opium poppy cultivation across the country nearly doubled, according to the UN,” she wrote. 

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“USAID asked, ‘Can you tell me how to get how to get to Sesame Street?’ and ended up in Iraq,” she wrote in another post. “USAID authorized a whopping $20 million to create a Sesame Street in Iraq.”