The First Day of Direct Expeditation in the U.S.A.I.D. Workforce: Samantha Cooper’s Case for Indefinite Administrative Leave

Samantha Cooper, a contractor whose employment was terminated, had been working in maternal and child health and nutrition at the aid agency, and was set to begin a new job this past Monday in the Office of H.I.V./AIDS. She went from excited to straining to make ends meet after being excited about an upcoming career milestone.

Contractors, NGOs, and consulting firms that receive funding from the U.S.A.I.D. are having to make cuts due to the decimation of the agency. At least 10,000 American jobs in the sector have already disappeared, according to InterAction, which represents a number of organizations specializing in foreign aid.

Some speculated that the number of people retained might climb slightly higher, as bureau and regional leaders fought to preserve as many positions as possible to continue the agency’s lifesaving work.

The Trump administration’s announcement this week that U.S.A.I.D. would dismiss almost all of its contractors and that most Foreign Service officers and other direct hires would be put on indefinite administrative leave set off a panic around the globe, as Americans posted in missions abroad scrambled to dismantle and reassemble their lives.

The notification that was sent to you said that you were expected to stay working until notified otherwise, according to the copy reviewed by The New York Times.

But the U.S.A.I.D. work force, and the aid industry that relies in large part on the agency’s funding, is still acutely in limbo. On Saturday, U.S.A.I.D. informed employees affected by the order that employees already on administrative leave would be reinstated until the end Friday, Feb. 14, and that no one else would be suspended with pay during that period, according to a copy of the notice viewed by The New York Times. Those employees could be waiting weeks or even months for a verdict. It is not certain whether the jobs will ever beexistent again, as the case will likely go to the Supreme Court.

He, like many others, spoke on the condition of anonymity, as those still on the agency’s payroll have been instructed not to publicly discuss the changes underway. Employees fear that flouting the order could jeopardize whatever benefits they might still be eligible for, such as pensions and severance pay — though it was unclear if the Trump administration would honor such obligations.

“Two weeks ago we were two gainfully employed people with onward assignments, and now we’ve seen the entire industry decimated and we’re returning to the U.S. without jobs,” he said.

Mr. Rubio, who has assumed overall authority of U.S.A.I.D., tried to tamp down the fears, encouraging people to apply for waivers to delay travel and arguing that the Trump administration was “not trying to be disruptive to people’s personal lives.”

Many employees had to decide if to leave families behind for the rest of the school year or just pull their children out of school. Some with medical conditions, including late stage and high-risk pregnancies, are worried about the risks of traveling and the lack of health care. It was not possible to get the paperwork to enter the United States in just a few weeks, so people debated about how to handle their pets.

The Foreign Service officers were given only 30 days to leave their posts and return to the U.S. in exchange for the government paying for their relocation.

On Friday evening, just hours before the vast majority of them were set to have been suspended with pay or laid off, a court issued a limited, temporary order against the Trump administration’s moves to shut down the agency.

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The thousands of people who work for the U.S. government’s main agency for humanitarian aid and disaster relief have been on the front lines of efforts to fight famine, contain virulent infectious diseases like H.I.V. and Ebola, and rebuild infrastructure in impoverished and war-torn countries.

“I’m having to file for unemployment, which doesn’t even cover rent; food stamps, which — that’s fine, it at least gets me groceries,” she said in a telephone interview. She did not have medical coverage last week.

She said her co-workers went through I.V.F. and lost all their benefits, while people were going through cancer treatments and parents were on hospice. “I feel privileged to say this is only what I’m struggling with. I know there are so many others having to deal with that, and it is literally going to break them.”

It was fear for a Foreign Service officer in Asia who was told this week by superiors that U.S.A.I.D. had no funding after he discovered a family member needed to be evacuated for life-threatening health problems. Their only option, the officer was told, would be to immediately return to the United States, where they have nowhere to live, and leave their belongings and pets behind.

She worried that her husband, who works in development, would have to put away savings to help them pay for a house if they were out of work.

“It just feels like the entire sector is sinking, and so how am I going to find a job?” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like others, for fear of retaliation. I’ve devoted my life to public health, all I know is development. What other skills do I have?”

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The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a criminal organization and should not be shut down under the Trump administration. A small consulting firm example of a shutdown

Many employees of nongovernmental organizations that rely on U.S.A.I.D. funding had months of expenses with no guarantee that the federal government would reimburse them because they were blocked from accessing any funding through the agency’s accounting system.

Resonance, a development consulting firm that employed about 150 people around the world, is an example of a small company taking a big hit. The firm did about 75 percent of its business with U.S.A.I.D. before the contraction. It has bills going back to November that the agency has yet to cover, Steve Schmida, its co-founder, said in an interview.

Mr. Schmida said that he had to lay off 90 percent of his U.S.-based staff due to lack of clarity as to when they would get paid or reimbursed. He is going without pay for three months to help free up funds to keep his business afloat, he said.

The United States is the largest aid donor in the world even though it spends only 1% of its budget on foreign aid. USAID distributes between $40 billion and $60 billion per year—almost a quarter of all global humanitarian aid. The agency distributes billions of dollars to several Latin American countries including Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, where it helps promote food security, health and sanitation, and education.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has taken over USAID as acting director, has said that Musk’s abrupt shutdown is “not about getting rid of foreign aid.” Even if the agency restarts operations, it is still likely to end all its climate-related work under the Trump administration. It would be just as significant to the Paris climate agreement as the withdrawal of the US from the international pact. By clawing back billions of dollars that Congress has already committed to the fight against global warming, the US is poised to derail climate progress far beyond its own borders.

Musk said on X on Sunday that the United States Army ID is a criminal organization. “Time for it to die.” (The agency is codified in federal law, and court challenges are likely to argue that Musk’s actions are themselves illegal.)

The agency has had to shut down its website, lock employees out of their email accounts, and close the Washington office.

The US Agency for International Development or USAID, an independent federal body that delivers humanitarian aid and economic development funding around the world, is almost certain to be shut down by the Trump administration because it was part of a broad effort to cut government spending. On his first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order pausing the funding of the US Agency for International Development, and the agency subsequently issued a stop-work order to nearly all funding recipients.