WASHINGTON: Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team is finalising the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development, ordering the firing of thousands of local workers and American diplomats and civil servants assigned to the agency overseas, two former top USAID officials and a source with knowledge of the situation have said.

On Friday, Congress was notified that almost all of USAID’s own employees are being fired by September, all of its overseas offices shut, and some functions absorbed into the State Department.

The latest move by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effectively will eliminate what is left of the agency’s workforce.

This is definitely the final closing out, said one of the former senior USAID officials.

President Donald Trump and Musk, his hand-picked adviser to oversee government cost-cutting, in February began the process of shuttering USAID and merging its operations into the State Department to ensure they conformed with Trump’s “America First” policies. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The former officials and source familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that USAID’s human resources office told regional bureaus in a conference call that layoff notices were going to all of the more than 10,000 locally hired foreign nationals, effective in August.

The first former official said the call took place on Monday, adding that the local staff terminations could run afoul of labor laws in the countries where the fired workers are employed.

Notices also will be sent to US diplomats and civil servants assigned to work abroad for what has been the leading US foreign aid provider for more than 60 years, the former officials and the source said.

Trump has claimed without evidence that the agency was rife with fraud and run by “radical left lunatics,” while Musk falsely accused it of being a “criminal” organisation.

Thousands of USAID’s own staff were placed on administrative leave — they received layoff notices on Friday — hundreds of contractors fired and more than 5,000 programmes terminated, disrupting global humanitarian aid efforts on which millions depend.

USAID maintains missions in more than 60 countries, with most of its funds going to humanitarian aid and health programmes.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2025