 "Trump orders full scale cut of USAID's overseas workforce")
US President Donald Trump has ordered the slashing of all USAID overseas positions by the end of September, in a move that will dramatically restructure the country’s remaining foreign aid operations.
The Guardian obtained the cable of the order issued by the State Department, where Marco Rubio directed the suspension of the agency’s entire international workforce. The responsibilities of foreign assistance programs will now be transferred to the department.
“The Department of State is streamlining procedures under National Security Decision Directive 38 to abolish all USAID overseas positions,” the order read, adding that the transfer will take effect on June 15.
How will it affect aid?
The directive impacts hundreds of USAID employees worldwide, including foreign service officers, contractors, and locally hired staff in over 100 countries. US embassy chiefs of mission have been instructed to prepare for these extensive changes to take effect within four months.
The layoffs at USAID were brought in by the Department of Government Efficiency’s (Doge) former chief, Elon Musk, who eliminated 86 per cent of USAID’s programs in just six weeks after Trump took office.
Internal documents reveal that senior agency officials warned Senator Rubio about the potentially devastating consequences of the cuts, including leaving 1 million children without treatment for malnutrition, causing up to 160,000 malaria-related deaths, and resulting in 200,000 additional cases of childhood paralysis from polio over the next ten years if the reductions were carried out.
‘Devastating’
Last month, in an ironic turn of events, Trump said that his administration’s cuts to the US Agency for International Development and its aid programs worldwide have been “devastating.”
Speaking beside South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a White House visit, Trump was asked about his cutting most foreign aid by a reporter who said the decision had significant impacts in Africa.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“It’s devastating, and hopefully a lot of people are going to start spending a lot of money,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
With inputs from agencies
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