Us Aid Agency Is In Upheaval During Foreign Assistance Freeze And Staff Departures

Trump administration changes have upended the U.S. agency charged with providing humanitarian aid to countries overseas, with dozens of senior officials put on leave, thousands of contractors laid off, and a sweeping freeze imposed on billions of dollars in foreign assistance .

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the pause on foreign assistance Thursday, saying "the U.S. government is not a charity."

Aid organizations say the funding freeze - and deep confusion over what U.S.-funded programs must stop work as a result - has left them agonizing over whether they could continue operating programs such as those providing round-the-clock nutritional support to extremely malnourished infants and children, knowing that closing the doors means that many of those children would die.

Current and former officials at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development say staffers were invited to submit requests to exempt certain programs from the foreign aid freeze, which President Donald Trump imposed Jan. 20 and the State Department detailed how to execute on Jan. 24.

Three days later, at least 56 senior career USAID staffers were abruptly placed on administrative leave .