The Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) of Elon Musk has poured out the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and a team of more than 10,000 to slightly less than 300, according to an internal e -mail viewed by Wired and various current USAID – staff.
The move leaves only 12 people in the Africa office of the Agency and eight people in the Asia office, with around 290 in general. A few extra foreign employees will be retained, two USAID employees tell Wired, but it is unclear how much.
“There are more impoverished people in Asia than anywhere, and our presence has always contributed to the influence of China” Bureau.
On Tuesday, USAID employees received an e-mail and noted that all staff would be placed an administrative leave from Friday 7 February, with the exception of “designated staff responsible for mission-critical functions.” The notification was published on the website of the office shortly thereafter. It also specified that the employees of the office stationed abroad would be returned to the United States.
USAID and the US Department of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
This was not an unexpected move. USAID has been a special target in the visor of Musk, where the centibillionary calls it a “criminal organization” on X and brags about “feeding by a wood chipper.”
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President Donald Trump is hostile to the desk in the same way. One of his first actions after being in the office last month was to sign an executive order to freeze foreign help, a large part of which is implemented by USAID. The change has already impeded anti-human trade workers, including projects that help people escape from work connections where they are made a slave and are forced to commit digital fraud, Wired reported Wednesday.
Although the administration then clarified that “life -saving” work would be allowed to continue with an emergency failure program, the chaotic acquisition of the agency has made this impossible in practice. As Wired reported Monday, essential HIV/AIDS work is disrupted, where employees have no access to antiretroviral medicines on site in countries such as Haiti – although much of that work was technically exempted.
In the meantime, some current employees stationed abroad still have to be informed about the newest changes from the agency. “The only official communication I have received is from the local embassy department facilities, asking whether or if we moved so that they could renovate our houses,” says a USAID employee stationed abroad.
