By Daphne Psaledakis, Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration has put on leave about 60 senior career officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) workers, sources familiar with the matter said, after Washington put a sweeping freeze on U.S. aid worldwide.
The administration on Saturday urged the USAID staff to join the effort to transform how Washington allocates aid around the world in line with Trump’s “America First” policy. It also threatened “disciplinary action” for any staff ignoring the administration’s orders.
An internal memo sent to USAID employees on Monday evening said the new leadership identified several actions in the agency that “appeared to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people.”
“As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions,” Acting Administrator Jason Gray said in the memo, reviewed by Reuters.
The memo did not spell out how many people were affected by the decision, but five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that it was around 57 to 60 people.
Those being put on leave comprised career staff in the leadership positions of almost all USAID bureaus based in Washington, with roles ranging from energy security to water security, children’s education overseas and digital technology, two of the sources said.
USAID did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since returning to office last week, Trump has taken steps toward fulfilling his vow to remake a federal bureaucracy he believes was hostile to him during his 2017-2021 presidency. He has reassigned or fired hundreds of workers in moves against a swath of agencies.
Hours after taking office, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign aid to review if it was aligned with his foreign policy priorities. On Friday, the State Department issued a stop-work order worldwide even for existing assistance, calling into question billions of dollars of life-saving aid.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Daphne Psaledakis and Simon Lewis; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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