The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has posted detailed instructions on its website for the thousands of employees seeking to retrieve personal belongings from their offices inside the Ronald Reagan Building after being fired or placed on administrative leave.
The agency is giving employees two days – Thursday, Feb. 27, and Friday, Feb. 28 – to enter the building during designated time slots if they have items they would like to bring home. While the slots range from 60 minutes to 90 minutes overall, employees will have approximately 15 minutes to collect personal belongings from their work spaces.
“Staff will be given approximately 15 minutes to complete this retrieval and must be finished removing items within their time slot only,” the instructions stated. “Staff with a significant amount of personal belongings to retrieve must be cognizant of time; however, flexibility may be granted in select circumstances with the approval of the Office of Security.”
They must also bring their own containers and supplies to remove and pack up their belongings.
Trump decided to significantly cut down the agency after the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, determined that USAID wasted millions of dollars funding questionable programs and initiatives around the world.
The agency, once run by thousands of employees, has been cut down to fewer than 300 staffers, who are responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership or specially designated programs. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
For instance, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list that included $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq.
Several more examples have been uncovered, such as more than $900,000 to a “Gaza-based terror charity” called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to “advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”
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