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A current official and a former official at the U.S. Agency for
International Development confirmed the reason given for the
move Monday. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of
reprisal.
Several hundred contractors based in Washington and elsewhere
also were laid off, the officials said.
It follows Trump’s executive order last week that directed a
sweeping 90-day pause on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed
through the State Department.
As a result of the freeze, thousands of U.S.-funded
humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide had
stopped work or were preparing to do so. Without funds to pay
staff, aid organizations were laying off hundreds of employees.
An internal USAID notice sent late Monday and obtained by The
Associated Press said new acting administrator Jason Gray had
identified “several actions within USAID that appear to be
designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the
mandate from the American people.”
“As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on
administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further
notice while we complete our analysis of these actions,” Gray
wrote.
Trump has signed many executive orders since taking office a
week ago, but the notice did not say which orders the employees
were suspected of violating.
The senior agency officials put on leave were experienced
employees who had served in multiple administrations, including
Trump's, the former USAID official said.
Before those officials were removed from the job Monday, they
were scrambling to help U.S.-funded aid organizations cope with
the new funding freeze and seek waivers to continue life-saving
activities, from getting clean water to war-displaced people in
Sudan to continuing to monitor for bird flu globally, the former
official said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has specifically exempted only
emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt
from the freeze on foreign assistance.
The Trump administration and GOP lawmakers, many of them
skeptical of the need for foreign aid and eager to see other
countries pay more, say they will review each foreign assistance
program to determine whether it is directly in U.S. interests
and eliminate those that are deemed wasteful or liberal social
engineering.
Politico first reported the USAID officials being put on leave.
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