The Trump administration has announced a sweeping decision to eliminate all United States Agency for International Development (USAID) overseas positions worldwide by September 30, 2025, marking one of the most significant restructuring efforts in American foreign assistance history. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued the directive on Tuesday, ordering the complete abolishment of the agency’s international workforce and transferring all foreign aid programs directly to the State Department.
This decision impacts many USAID staff working in more than 100 nations, for example, foreign service officers, contractors, and workers from nearby communities. It is very fast; members of the US mission have just four months to get ready for all these changes. Information from the State Department shows it is now in charge of foreign assistance programming that used to be managed by USAID.
The cuts made by this decision are the results of extensive measures that started right after President Trump took office on January 20, 2025. As part of the “Department of Government Efficiency” plan, USAID experienced the removal of 83 percent of its existing programs within only six weeks after the change in administration. Almost all (5,200) of the agency’s 6,200 international programs have been ended, and efforts from the rest were transferred to the State Department for operation.
The process started when Trump signed an order to freeze all foreign assistance until a complete assessment was carried out. When restaurants and bars were left out of the waiver, people began to worry more about USAID, especially after the site on February 1. Employees were instructed not to show up for work the following Monday, as over the weekend the servers were taken out and top leaders were either fired or suspended for reasons still unknown.
After several USAID workers were prevented from entering the group’s Washington headquarters, Rubio said he would serve as acting administrator.
Musk, the head of the initiative, was heard celebrating the move to axe USAID and made false claims by lamenting the group’s actions. There was a rumor circulating that USAID had a condom project in Gaza at the cost of fifty million dollars, and this was untrue according to fact-checkers as well.
Senior USAID officials informed Rubio in written documents that these budget cuts would cause enormous harm to people in the region. It is predicted by organizations that up to 1 million kids with malnutrition will lack treatment, an extra 160,000 die from malaria, and close to 200,000 children will be at risk for polio-related paralysis over the following decade if the budget reductions happen.
The remaining staff at the agency were instructed to get rid of secret papers by shredding them and putting them in burn bags in March. Staff were told by Acting Secretary Erica Carr to start with shredding documents, and to switch to burning them in the bags only when the shredding machines were not in use or needed repair.
As a result of this change, foreign aid from America is now delivered in a new way around the globe. Now, State Department officials will take over projects that used to be run by USAID’s specialized development team, making people wonder about the department’s capacity to execute and the effectiveness of the new system. Much of the knowledge USAID staff built up in many parts of the world for decades is now being lost with this transition.
It is still unclear what will happen in the long run if foreign aid is brought under the State Department’s control, especially in terms of meeting international emergencies and challenges in development. It shows that American politicians are changing their direction in foreign policy and the ways they engage with countries around the globe.
Source:TheGuardian
