Nearly all USAID staff to be placed on leave
The US has ordered nearly all staff of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to be placed on leave as the new administration of Donald Trump looks to dramatically shrink government employees.
According to Al-Jazeera, USAID announced on February 4th that all direct hire personnel, more than 10,00 people, would be placed on leave in the following days.
The organisation, labelled “criminal” by Trump according to NPR, distributed more than half of Washington’s foreign aid budget in 2023 and has become the first target of the new administration’s cost cutting policies.
Al-Jazeera, NPR
