The Trump Administration placed several dozen senior officials in the United States Agency for International Development on Administrative License in response to what an official was characterized as resistance to President Trump’s policy.
On Monday, an email to the USAID staff of the agency’s interim administrator, Jason Gray, said Trump’s officials “have identified several actions within USAID that seem to be designed to avoid” an executive order.
Mr. Gray did not provide more details about these actions, but added that, as a result, “several USAID employees” had licensed “with full salary until further notice.”
A person reported on the new order said he covered about 60 high officials in the agency. Another person said that officials placed on license included leaders who supervised world health aid, one of the largest parts of USAID.
With a budget of $ 22.6 billion, USAID’s global work also includes disaster relief, aid for refugees and poverty programs.
The agency’s supporters say that their efforts win in the United States enormous international will and also promote the political stability that serves the country’s security interests, all for approximately 0.2 percent of the federal budget. But many conservatives have long questioned foreign aid programs, and Trump and his allies are determined to reduce federal expenditure whenever possible.
Mr. Gray’s email seems to reflect the determination of Trump’s officials to ensure that federal workers even carry out their most dramatic orders, and to get them out of the way if they do not. In this case, the directive in question is almost certain that an executive order that Mr. Trump signed last week to freeze almost all foreign aid of the United States funded by USAID and the State Department.
“It is initiating a review of all foreign assistance programs to ensure that they are efficient and consistent with the foreign policy of the United States under the first agenda of the United States,” said State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, in a statement in a statement on Friday.
The order does not apply to the support of weapons to Israel and Egypt, or to emergency food assistance, according to a memorandum issued by Secretary of Marco Rubio state on Friday.
Citing a 90 -day reevaluation period, the State Department memorandum requires that employees refrain from designating new foreign aid funds or accepting financing requests, and issuing “stop” orders to beneficiaries.
Many contractors who perform USAID infrastructure support were also licensed.
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