CNN
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The Trump administration’s rapid move to dismantle the US International Development Agency has led thousands of workers to come next and scores of people posted to dangerous hotspots around the world for fear of their safety I scrambled to figure out what.
CNN spoke with many USAID employees around the world who expressed shock to embrace a massive belt of the workforce to take time off Friday night. Hundreds of people posted abroad have killed their lives, waiting for answers on when and how they will return to the United States.
“We’re all emotionally distraught,” one USAID diplomat, posted overseas, told CNN. “We feel like a psychological battle is unfolding against us.”
“It’s surreal. It feels like a cruel joke,” said another USAID official in a sensitive place. “I’m our diplomat and I’m in my diplomatic passport from here, but am I still kicked off from all the embassy systems designed to keep the diplomats and their families safe?”
Over the past few days, thousands of contractors, including contractors who act as foreign diplomats, have either placed their critical agency systems on vacation or been locked out of critical agency systems, including those that are threatening threats. I did.
On Tuesday evening, officials, direct employers of the US government, began receiving leave notices. Later that night, the agency notified employees “all USAID direct employment officers” with a few exceptions.
The notice states that USAID will “prepare a plan” for staff listed overseas to arrange and pay for return trips to the United States within 30 days and “is not deemed essential.” Advised to provide contractor “termination.”
However, USAID officials, both contractors and direct recruiting who spoke to CNN, said they have not received any communication from the agency about whether they are maintaining their work or whether they will return home. Ta.
Even the USAID employees, the US embassies overseas, and even the trade unions (AFSAs), representing foreign services officials (they are not receiving official communications “about what is happening.” AFSA.
The AFSA “pursuing a legal path” to respond to Trump’s moves, he told CNN, “Working with other organizations and several different companies, what are those legal measures? “We’re identifying whether it’s the case.”
Worker CNN has little to say from the new proxy leaders of government and USAID, Marco Rubio and Pete Marrocco, since the cascade of change spurred by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. He said he hadn’t heard it. A few weeks ago.
Chester said that around 1,400 direct-employed U.S. employees overseas have families and families. Despite the Trump administration claiming that controversial actions are based on government efforts to save money, bringing them home will bring us millions of taxpayers. It will be an important job that can be sacrificed.
“We’re talking at least $20 million or more to get all these people back here to America,” he said. “The cost to American taxpayers is incredible and unnecessary.”
“There was no explanation on how to make this happen,” he said.
CNN has contacted the State Department and has requested comment from USAID.
When officials lose access to their email and USAID systems, they are no longer able to access a secure alert system that notifies them when there is a security issue, demonstration or evacuation, sources say CNN I talked to.
Under that system, if there is an incident, an employee with USAID posted in the Middle East that said, “You automatically trigger the embassy or consulate’s accountability training and ducks and cover messages.” explained. “No one who has no access to work phones, work emails, or the USG system will hear anything.”
“If necessary, I cannot say for certain whether they (the embassy) is responsible for my safety and evacuation,” reverberated by the USAID contractors posted in dangerous places.
“My Scry (security app) panic button appears to be working, but it hasn’t been confirmed in security yet. The app is tied to a deactivated USAID email,” they told CNN , said he had heard of it from a colleague at other hotspots. “They’re not working.”
Sources have also expressed fear about the effects of Trump and Musk’s demonizing rhetoric on USAID and its employees.
“It’s a shameful, sleazy and unprecedented way to treat civil servants, and its safety is at risk following a cruel and defamous statement of Musk,” a USAID official said. I said.
More widely, USAID officials around the world are rushing to figure out the next step.
In a private meeting and greeting at the US Embassy in Guatemala on Wednesday, Rubio sought “patience” and “trust” from USAID officials, trying to alleviate concerns that they must uproot their lives. He claimed he would be exempt from a 30-day return for people with children at school and those receiving treatment.
Rubio said Wednesday “for the next 36-48 hours,” he hoped that he could define what the program would continue to run.
“We will continue to provide foreign aid and engage in the program, but it must be a program that we can protect, it must be a program that we can explain, which we justify. It must be a capable program. Otherwise, Rubio said, according to the partial transcript obtained by CNN.
“There are important missions and there are consequences to stop them because they undermine the purpose of foreign policy,” he admitted. His comments were first reported by the New York Times.
A USAID official posted in the Middle East said that the entire team they work in one country in the region would “where they are, will they go home, or how they will return, or they but said they were sitting there where they were, “I’m going to go home.”
USAID diplomats stationed overseas are often found in posts for years. This means that children may be enrolled in a local school or their spouse may be employed locally. But now everything is covered.
Shutting down the program takes time, saying “You cannot turn off taps.” “I have an invoice to pay. I have to close out neatly.”
AFSA’s Chester told CNN because operating leave has never been used in this way, so the USAID diplomats listed overseas said they would look into what happens among those leaving on Friday night. i don’t know.
“All our homes are sponsored by the US government, so people are worried that they will be asked to leave the home immediately. Stay in our home?”
For those who are technically working as contractors overseas, concerns and confusion are just as great.
“As a contract arrangement, I am responsible for paying the hotel bill (I am obligated to stay at the hotel) and asking for costs and refunds, and for each subsequent date – due to uncertainty regarding the contract status, I am I’m not sure. A USAID official in a dangerous location said: “Just to be safe, I’m checking out and sleeping on the couch at my colleague’s hotel.”
The actual details of how to take people home are still being resolved.
“People who do all of this arrangement and missions don’t have operational details yet, as they still don’t know what to do,” AFSA’s Chester said Wednesday.
“All (diplomacy) missions have a certain budget that can be obtained from headquarters to spend on these things, which was unplanned, so we are about where the money actually comes from and how it will be paid. No one is clear. He explained, “It’s really hard to buy a plane ticket and arrange a good transport when you don’t know where the money is.”
