Rubio foreign aid freeze leads to USAID staff suspensions and contractor terminations

Dozens of senior staff inside the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, have been placed on administrative leave until further notice, and hundreds of contractors have had their employment furloughed or terminated, multiple sources told CBS News. This followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s order last Friday that placed an immediate halt on virtually all U.S.-funded foreign aid assistance globally. 

CBS News spoke to a dozen current and former USAID staff and contractors who were granted anonymity to speak openly.

An email obtained by CBS News and sent from USAID’s acting administrator Jason Gray to USAID staff Monday stated that “a number of USAID employees” were placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice after “several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people” were identified. 

Approximately 60 senior staff within USAID have been suspended — including the assistant administrators and deputy assistant administrators heading up most of its bureaus — leaving the agency without clear leadership, five sources familiar with the internal action told CBS News. The majority of those placed on leave were career civil servants and foreign service officers. They also included USAID attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel, who are responsible for interpreting the executive orders for implementation.  

One source told CBS News the individuals affected were told to “go home and not communicate with anyone” at USAID. Two sources told CBS News that some of the individuals in question were physically escorted out of the building. 

CBS News has also learned that several hundred contractors at USAID have been furloughed or laid off, according to six sources familiar with the action. Some have been notified they have been terminated immediately without severance pay and that their benefits will expire in just three days, at the end of January, while others who have been furloughed have been told their benefits will remain in effect through the end of February. 

Rubio’s order is part of an effort by the administration to meet President Trump’s campaign promises of shrinking the size of the federal workforce, and looking for places to cut what it sees as wasteful government spending. Mr. Trump has long held that other nations are not contributing enough when it comes to foreign aid, and that the U.S. is bearing the brunt of the burden. But critics say such cuts could undermine America’s standing in the world and create an opening for China and other adversaries looking to exert their influence abroad.

In response to Rubio’s mandate to halt federal foreign assistance, stop-work orders were issued on Monday and Tuesday to companies that hold contracts with USAID and the State Department.

Termination letters sent to two contractors obtained by CBS News read, “This letter is to inform you that effective January 28, 2025, your employment with [federal contract holder] will be terminated due to a contract layoff. Unfortunately, [federal contract holder] received a Stop Work Order, and without authority to proceed, we have no work for you to perform.”

There is language in the termination letters reading, “We hope this situation is temporary and that you can return to your positions.” However, the employees’ email accounts with USAID and the contracting company were shut off, and the termination letters were sent afterwards to their personal emails, sources said. 

One source said that USAID staff had scrambled to put forward applications for waivers for programs once Rubio had sent out the order. 

“Then they physically escorted out USAID leadership. The waiver process was a joke,” the source said. 

“USAID is absolutely gutted,” another source in the agency said. “This is surgical to stop programs. Lives are at stake here. We are jeopardizing lives.”

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters late Tuesday that “staff have been given a template for waiver requests.” Bruce also echoed a line that was in the initial Rubio order, telling reporters “specific exemptions include foreign military financing for Israel and Egypt, and emergency food assistance, for which the Secretary has approved waivers.” 

But the State Department has not yet provided clarification on whether some U.S.-funded foreign aid programs are now automatically exempt, or whether all programs globally must still apply for a waiver to try and opt back into receiving U.S. funding. The Associated Press and Reuters reported late on Tuesday that Rubio has now approved a waiver applying to “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance.”

In the copy of the initial order obtained by CBS News last Friday, Rubio told all U.S. diplomatic and consular posts to immediately issue “stop-work” orders “for existing foreign assistance awards,” pending review by the Secretary of State.

Rubio had also stated in his initial order that “exceptions” to the pause approved by the State Department Director of Foreign Assistance Office are also exempt, without further specifying what those exceptions are. CBS News has learned that Pete Marocco, a former deputy assistant secretary of African Affairs at the Pentagon, is now serving in a senior directing role within the State Department’s Foreign Assistance Office — known internally as ‘F’ — which oversees foreign assistance programs administered by the State Department and USAID.

“I’m so devastated [as] to what just took place,” one impacted USAID source said. “We enjoyed the work we’d done and how it contributed to helping people all over the world. What took place was not fair at all. This has never taken place in any administration change, ever,” they said, adding that they had respected the change and had been “looking forward to building a relationship with the new administration for the better good.”

Two now-former USAID contractors voiced deep concerns about having life-threatening health conditions, in one case exacerbated by frequent work travel, and suddenly finding themselves without medical insurance after the end of the month on Friday.

“Our contractor could have paid us for two weeks. Or at least through next week so that we could have health insurance through February,” says another USAID contractor whose employment was terminated on Tuesday. “It feels apocalyptic. Every email felt like a threat starting last week and then they followed through.” The source added that in their office on Monday and Tuesday “people were in disarray and bawling…People are terrified. Direct hires are feeling intense survivor’s guilt and don’t know what to do.”

A number of USAID contractors were also terminated last week without being placed on leave or receiving severance as a result of the executive order targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. This included individuals who were not DEI advisers, or did not have primary job functions related to DEI, but may have contributed to collective workplace efforts focused on inclusivity and accessibility in the Biden administration.

Termination letters sent to those employees last Thursday evening read, “Effective immediately, USAID no longer requires the services you currently perform on the contract. As of today, USAID is ending funding for this position.”

Multiple sources also told CBS News that in several Washington, D.C.-based USAID annex office buildings, photographs hanging up of the agencies’ programs and beneficiaries have been stripped from the walls. The removal of photographs is “not normal protocol” between administrations, one source said. 

“They’re physically dismantling things in the building,” a second source said. “They’re erasing our existence,” said a third.

Contractors with USAID’s Bureau for Global Health — the department responsible for projects covering HIV/AIDS treatment, maternal and child health, malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases — were among those who received termination notices on Tuesday. According to two sources, all contractors in the Global Health Bureau, roughly 450 technical experts, were terminated. Those contractors make up about 50% of the entire USAID global health staff, leaving only about 450 direct hires still employed in that bureau.

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR — started by the administration of George W. Bush in 2003 — is among the notable government programs suddenly brought to a halt since Rubio issued the order, potentially interrupting the provision of anti-viral medications (ARVs) for millions of HIV and AIDS patients globally.  According to the State department, PEPFAR has saved the lives of 26 million people since it started.

While funding could be turned back on pending the outcome of a 90-day review, there is also growing concern among advocates that congressional support for PEPFAR is in peril due to a revelation earlier this month that groups receiving aid performed abortions, which is a violation of U.S. law. Reuters reported that four nurses in Mozambique had performed 21 abortions since 2021. That revelation may also be part of the upcoming State Department review.

Currently 20.6 million people globally are on life-saving drugs due to PEPFAR, one source told CBS News, so the freeze in U.S. aid funding could lead to “hundreds of thousands of deaths, particularly for women and children, depending on the length of the freeze.” 

“This is a crime against humanity,” the source added.

“This purge is unprecedented, is a threat to our national security, makes America less safe, and seems [to be] circumventing congressional authority,” one former USAID employee said.

“To me, this is an unmitigated hostile takeover of our democracy,” another source impacted by the federal assistance freeze said. “USAID is just the first casualty. But more are coming imminently. With the intention to wield power for whatever purposes they feel like.”

Margaret Brennan

contributed to this report.