Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has gutted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), taking a team of over 10,000 down to just under 300, according to an internal email viewed by WIRED and several current USAID employees.
The move leaves only 12 people in the agency’s Africa bureau, and 8 people in its Asia bureau, with around 290 overall. There will be some additional foreign workers retained, two USAID employees tell WIRED, but it is unclear how many.
“There are more impoverished people in Asia than anywhere else, and our presence has always helped counter the influence of China,” says one USAID employee, who was granted anonymity due to fears of retaliation and because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the agency.
On Tuesday, USAID workers received an email noting that all personnel would be put on an administrative leave starting Friday, February 7, with the exception of “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions.” The notice was published on the agency’s website shortly thereafter. It also specified that the agency’s workers stationed abroad would be recalled back to the United States.
USAID and the US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This was not an unexpected move. USAID has been a special target in Elon Musk’s crosshairs, with the centibillionaire calling it a “criminal organization” on X and boasting about “feeding it through a wood chipper.”
President Donald Trump has been similarly hostile to the agency. One of his first actions after taking office last month was to sign an executive order to freeze foreign aid, much of which is implemented by USAID. Already, the change has stymied anti-human-trafficking work, including projects that help people escape from labor compounds where they are enslaved and forced to commit digital fraud, WIRED reported on Wednesday.
Although the administration subsequently clarified that “lifesaving” work would be allowed to continue under an emergency waiver program, the chaotic takeover of the agency has made this impossible in practice. As WIRED reported on Monday, vital HIV/AIDS work has been disrupted, with workers on the ground in countries like Haiti unable to access antiretroviral medications—even though much of that work was technically granted a waiver.
Meanwhile, some current employees stationed abroad have yet to be informed of the agency’s latest changes. “The only official communication I’ve received is from the local embassy State Department facilities people, asking if or when we were moving out so they could renovate our houses,” one USAID worker stationed overseas says.
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