U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees were notified late Tuesday they would be given 15 minutes to collect their belongings from their offices as the Trump administration forges ahead with gutting the agency.
“All staff and their property will undergo magnetometer and x-ray machine screening upon entry. Staff will then be escorted to their workspace, where they will be permitted to collect their personal items and given approx 15 minutes to complete this retrieval and must be finished removing items within their time slot only,” the message says.
“Staff MUST bring their own boxes, bags, tape, and/or other containers to remove their personal items; these items will not be provided.”
The message was sent to employees by text, as many employees have had their email disabled, and it is currently the only content posted on the USAID website.
The majority of USAID staff have been placed on administrative leave and blocked from accessing their offices or other USAID systems.
The Trump administration on Sunday told USAID staffers it would be firing 1,600 employees and placing all but a fraction of employees on administrative leave — a group of roughly 4,200 people.
That same announcement indicated the agency would begin a reduction in force to terminate agency staff.
Before the Trump administration, USAID had a total of about 14,000 employees between full-time government hires and contractors.
Those moves came after a federal judge declined a push by federal employees to temporarily block the government dismantling of the agency.
The block of USAID funding has stalled agency efforts to deliver food, stem migration and counter Chinese influence across the globe.
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