The Plan to Recall Overseas USAID Personnel During the December 1st Snowmass and the Impact on Foreign Service

Three sources with knowledge of internal planning have stated that the State Department is getting ready to withdraw all United States Agency for International Development personnel stationed overseas this weekend.

A number of USAID employees have been put on leave and ordered to stop work due to the economic crisis. A number of independent contractors have been laid off. Guidance to employees has been inconsistent and unclear, stoking fear and chaos amongst staff worldwide.

I am aware of the emotional toll that will take on those impacted as well as the team assisting. We’ve been asked to staff a 24/7 Coordination Support Team in the Ops Center’s Taskforce space beginning immediately.”

The plan to recall overseas staff was described to NPR by current and former federal government officials who were not authorized to speak publicly and feared retribution.

On late Monday night, a memo went out to State Department employees asking that overseas missions provide the number of USAID employees and dependent family members at their locations.

About two-thirds of USAID’s 10,000 employees serve overseas in more than 60 country and regional missions, according to a January 2025 report by the Congressional Research Service.

The sudden recall means employees have few days to figure out where to go, arrange pet care, and allow their spouses to make arrangements, while children are out of school. Meanwhile, withdrawing over a thousand foreign service officers and their families will likely be extremely costly, multiple diplomatic sources tell NPR.

“It will be logistically challenging, tremendously expensive and undignified,” said one USAID employee who was not authorized to speak publicly. “Many folks have kids in school.”

The issue has been front and center this week after Elon Musk, President Trump’s pick to lead a newly established entity called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced he was in the process of “shutting down” the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). His comments came after the Trump administration had already announced a 90-day pause on foreign aid.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Service has plowed through several government agencies since President Donald Trump took office last month, proposing sweeping changes to federal infrastructure. No agency has been as thoroughly gutted as the USAID has been. A small group of young DOGE agents has been stationed in the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) since last week; after taking over the secure systems and placing key personnel on leave, the DOGE team began cutting off the staff email accounts on a random basis. A current employee of the US Agency for International Development lost access to their email on Monday.

WIRED interviewed eight current and former USAID employees and contractors for this story, several of whom directly work on the agency’s HIV and AIDS programs. They were granted anonymity due to fears of retaliation and because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the agency. The agency did not respond to the requests for comment.

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk said on social media Sunday. Could I go to some great parties? Did that instead.”

The Trump Administration’s Global Health Program isn’t Closing Down, but It’s Getting Better at Measuring It

The global health program was founded by former US President George W. Bush and has saved an estimated 26 million lives. It is implemented by a few of the government agencies. While in theory the Trump administration’s waiver allows the program to resume some of its activities while the foreign aid freeze is still in effect, in reality, sources tell WIRED that much of its lifesaving work remains paused.

The people who froze your money cannot be contacted, said an official at an HIV/AIDS organization. Efforts to free up the work is frustrating even though there is a bigger communication block.

With each episode, Republicans in Congress have so far demonstrated little willingness to get crosswise with the new administration — even when it moved to reverse past decisions by lawmakers on how the government spends money.

Concerns were fueled by a memo from the office of management and budget telling federal agencies to stop all payments. The memo was later rescinded after a court challenge that resulted in a temporary restraining order — but the White House has said its broader effort to rein in spending will continue.

The senate’s number two GOP leader told NPR that the administration has the right to demand accountability and transparency in all of the programs.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made comments on Monday raising concerns over the information being given to the public. Rubio later said he would be overseeing the agency and sent a letter to congressional committees saying he was reviewing and reorganizing its operations.

Congress authorized spending for the agency through the annual appropriations process, but many Republicans are now saying that a review of foreign aid programs is warranted.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., maintained Tuesday that USAID wasn’t closing down, but told reporters the Trump administration has “the right to review funding and how those decisions are made and what priorities are being funded.”

The reaction to Musk and DOGE, and a GOP senator’s reaction to the debate about foreign aid and the US government’s spending authority

The reaction to Musk and the DOGE initiative has underscored the already sharp divide on Capitol Hill in the opening weeks of the new administration. While Democrats have sought to frame Musk’s work as an undemocratic power grab by an un-elected billionaire, Republicans have described it as a long overdue review of foreign aid.

There’s a lot of spending that goes on through the US government’s agency, and so I am all for reviews to make sure that taxpayer dollars are going to programs and people who are consistent with our government’s policies.

Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the agency is due for a review, especially when it comes to overhead costs. But she was a rare GOP lawmaker who publicly raised questions about how Musk was proceeding.

Congress has to be briefed 15 days in advance of a reorganization of the agency, and a detailed explanation of any changes has to be provided.

Collins did not believe the letter about reviewing the agency met the requirements of the law. Collins did not say what her panel would do in response.

She said she wasn’t sure where Musk’s authority would come from, but she believed some of his assistant may have access to classified information.

The other GOP appropriator said that he didn’t know what he was doing right now. “We are in the process of finding out what the path forward is,” he told NPR, adding that he expected a briefing on the details of DOGE’s plans.

An executive branch move to turn off a federal agency runs afoul of the Constitution in the strictest sense. He said that former president Joe Biden had taken the same steps.

“It’s not uncommon for presidents to flex a little bit on where they can spend and where they can stop spending,” Tillis said. “Nobody should bellyache about that.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pointed specifically to the Biden administration’s efforts to forgive student loan debt as an example of an administration stepping on Congress’ spending authority. That push, Hawley said, “remains the high watermark for presidential lawlessness vis-à-vis Congress in my lifetime.”

For now, the reaction inside the GOP about giving Trump and Musk broad leeway over how federal money is spent centers on the debate over foreign aid. There has been a disagreement within the party over how much the U.S. should be sending to other countries. The “America first” message of Donald Trump made him popular with the party’s base, which could bode well for upcoming congressional debates on federal funding.

OMB action last week involved trillions in federal spending for both international and domestic programs. Few GOP lawmakers publicly objected, even as they admitted constituents in districts across the country called their offices warning about the prospects of losing access to day care programs, Meals on Wheels, school lunch programs and other forms of assistance. The pause also risked funding for projects in their states and districts that Republicans inserted into spending bills.

Republican lawmakers will face another chance to put their stamp on federal spending soon. Agencies are scheduled to run out of money on March 14 unless Congress approves legislation to avoid a partial shutdown.