Trump officials will put 4,700 USAID employees on leave and eliminate 1,600 jobs

The Trump administration is putting nearly all of USAID's 4,700 full-time employees on paid administrative leave at midnight Sunday and will subsequently terminate 1,600 of those positions as part of a "reduction in force," according to a memo that was widely distributed to agency staff Sunday afternoon and later published on the USAID website.

The memo says that the terminated positions will be U.S.-based.

In addition, it states that there will be a "voluntary" program for full-time employees stationed abroad to return to the United States.

Employees put on leave will continue to have access to email to monitor "for further guidance" but are not allowed to access agency files without permission. Employees stationed abroad will have access to "agency systems and to diplomatic and other resources," the memo said.

The memo, sent from the office of the administrator, stated that there would be exceptions for "designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs." No specifics were provided on these exceptions.

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