Officials appointed by the Trump administration have recently dismissed hundreds of employees from the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.), according to sources within the agency. These firings have raised concerns about the effectiveness of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in providing life-saving humanitarian assistance, given the freeze on almost all foreign aid declared last month.
Thousands of U.S.A.I.D. employees have been terminated or placed on paid leave, with a task force of young engineers, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, having interrupted many of the aid agency’s technical systems and barring access to email accounts. Musk has claimed that U.S.A.I.D. is a criminal organization without evidence.
The most recent round of dismissals occurred on Friday night, when hundreds of individuals working in the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance received standardized termination notices. The New York Times confirmed these reports and spoke with two terminated employees on the condition of anonymity.
In addition, 36 people were fired from the Office of Transition Initiatives, which specializes in assisting partner countries with political transitions and democratic initiatives. In total, nearly 400 people, including contractors, were dismissed from humanitarian assistance roles.
Mr. Pete Marocco, a State Department official, oversees U.S.A.I.D. daily operations. Mr. Rubio announced that he would take over as acting administrator earlier this month. However, officials and contractors expect most foreign aid to be permanently cut and U.S.A.I.D. functions to be absorbed by the State Department. Despite this, there have been few Republican objections.
Foreign aid makes up less than one percent of the government budget. Mr. Rubio’s statement that employees could apply for waivers to continue “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” during the freeze has been ineffective, largely because the U.S.A.I.D. payment system is no longer operational.
Spokespersons for the State Department and U.S.A.I.D. have not responded to requests for comment.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/us/politics/usaid-urgent-aid-firings.html
