Thousands of USAID terminations to take effect by September in agency’s final leg of ‘drawdown’

Thousands of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employees will be terminated by September as the Trump administration restructures the agency to fall in line with the president’s “America First” policy, Fox News Digital learned.  

“President Trump and Secretary Rubio are effectively stewarding taxpayer dollars while ensuring that foreign aid programs align with America’s national interests,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox Digital Monday. “That includes eliminating staff positions that do not advance the President’s foreign policy goals to put America First.” 

USAID is an independent U.S. agency that was established under the Kennedy administration to administer economic aid to foreign nations. It was one of the first agencies investigated by the Department of Government Efficiency back in early February for alleged mismanagement and government overspending, with DOGE’s leader Elon Musk slamming the agency as “a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.” 

The administration had already gutted the agency of U.S.-based workers back in February as DOGE investigated the office. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has served as the agency’s acting administrator since February.

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President Donald Trump sits next to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, D.C.  (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

USAID firings are back in the headlines after viral news reports claimed that the Trump administration fired three USAID workers operating in Myanmar while they were assisting with damage from a 7.7 earthquake that hit the nation in March. A senior State Department official told the Washington Reporter that the report was not accurate, as “no one was fired,” adding that “our team leads on the ground in Burma have reported back that the response is going well and they are able to execute their assignment.”

“Per the notice sent out last week,” the official added in comment to the outlet. “All USAID personnel were either given a 1-July or 2-September termination date.”

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“There have been no changes to that plan. Any assertion otherwise was likely based on a deliberate leak by someone trying to spread a fake narrative for their own political agenda.”

The layoffs come after DOGE’s analysis of the organization and recommendation for mass layoffs. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)

An administration official told Fox Digital that the State Department official’s comments to the outlet were an accurate characterization of the earthquake situation in the Southeast Asian country. 

All in, Fox Digital learned, roughly 4,600 USAID personnel in both the foreign and civil service will be impacted by the latest reduction in force directive. There were more than 10,000 USAID employees across the world ahead of Trump’s inauguration. 

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The staffers will have a final separation date of either July 1, 2025 or Sept. 2, 2025, consistent with regulatory and other requirements, an administration official told Fox Digital.

Elon Musk has helped lead DOGE through their audits of federal offices. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

USAID historically has fallen under the State Department’s operational umbrella. 

The State Department and USAID, however, notified Congress on March 28 that officials intend to reorganize “certain USAID functions to the Department by July 1, 2025.” USAID functions that are not absorbed by the State Department will be discontinued. 

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“USAID and State previously served duplicative functions, with no accountability for the billions of dollars doled out abroad by USAID,” an administration official told Fox Digital of the USAID shakeup. 

Thousands of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employees will be terminated by September as the Trump administration restructures the agency to fall in line with the president’s “America First” policy. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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The admin official added that USAID’s top priority amid the restricting effort is “the continued safety of all personnel and the orderly repatriation of colleagues posted overseas,” and that the administration is working “with overseas personnel to ensure any specific circumstances are considered to ensure a safe and orderly drawdown.”