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US President Donald Trump's administration is moving to formally end the US Agency for International Development (USAID), notifying the remaining employees they will be terminated and the agency will be merged with the State Department, The Hill reported.
The move will fully absorb all remaining USAID functions into the State Department effective July 1, and according to a reduction in force notice to remaining staff, will "obviate" the need for an independent USAID. By September 2, USAID's operations will have been substantially transferred to State or otherwise wound down, the notice stated. Jeremy Lewin, a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who joined USAID last week, said the State Department "will seek to retire USAID's independent operation, consistent with applicable law," as per The Hill. "As Secretary Rubio has said, following congressional consultations, the State Department intends to assume responsibility for many of USAID's functions and its ongoing programming," Lewin wrote. "It will also obviate the need for USAID to continue operating as an independent establishment. Accordingly, the Department will seek to retire USAID's independent operation, consistent with applicable law." It's not clear which specific USAID programs would survive the transfer, as per The Hill. According to a memo to Congress obtained by CNN, just 900 employees remain at an agency that once employed 10,000, as per The Hill. USAID employees will be terminated either on July 1 or September 2, with those in the later group responsible for "winding down" the agency, The Hill reported. "The remaining USAID personnel will then supervise the responsible decommissioning of USAID assets and the wind-down of the Agency's independent operations," Lewin wrote. In a separate move on late Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing a number of agencies to suspend union bargain rights. Included on the list was USAID as the administration classified it as a national security agency. (ANI)
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