A career employee at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has reportedly been placed on administrative leave after he refused to carry out firings ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Newsweek has reached out to USAID via email outside of normal working hours.

Why It Matters

The State Department recently announced a freeze on new funding for almost all U.S. foreign assistance programs, with the exception of humanitarian food initiatives and military aid to Israel and Egypt.

This is in line with an aid-freezing executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office. The freeze has halted humanitarian aid programs around the world.

This comes amid major changes implemented by Trump’s administration, which include firing career agency employees, freezing trillions in grand funds and halting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which could result in major layoffs.

At least 240 employees have been fired, reassigned or are set to be laid off, the Associated Press has reported. Thousands may be affected by upcoming action.

What To Know

In an email obtained and reported on by The Washington Post, which circulated on social media, Nicholas Gottlieb, director of employee and labor relations at USAID wrote: “DOGE instructed me to violate the due process of our employees by issuing immediate termination notices to a group of employees without due process.”

“I have refused,” the email read. “It is and has always been my office’s commitment to the workforce that we ensure all employees receive their due process in any of our actions. I will not be party to a violation of that commitment.”

The email then stated: “I was notified moments ago that I will be placed on administrative leave, effective immediately. It has been an honor working with you all,” the email continued, before Gottlieb then asked people to be kind to remaining employees, who will be “very-short staffed and pressed over the coming months.”

An image of the email has circulated in multiple posts on the platform X. One of these posts has over 600,000 views, another over 200,000.

DOGE, which is headed by Elon Musk, has vowed to reduce federal government spending by $1 trillion. Federal spending for the 2024 fiscal year was $6.75 trillion.

More than 50 senior career USAID officials were placed on administrative leave on Monday, The Washington Post reported.

What People Are Saying

Trump’s Executive Order states: “The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values. They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Tammy Bruce said in a statement: “[The United States] is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.”

What’s Next

USAID is the largest provider of food assistance in the world. The email is reflective of current and ongoing difficulties in the agency, and the impact that DOGE will have on the federal government.

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