The Trump administration is placing US Agency for International Development (USAID) direct-hire staffers around the world on leave, except those deemed essential.
A notice posted online on Tuesday gives the workers 30 days to return home and targets the aid agency’s six-decade mission overseas.
Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programmes worldwide shut down after President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance after taking office.
The website came back online on Tuesday night, with the notice of recall or termination for global staffers as its sole post.
The move had been rumoured for several days and was the most extreme of several proposals considered for consolidating the agency into the State Department.
Other options included closures of smaller USAID missions and partial closures of larger ones.
The decision to withdraw direct-hire staff and their families earlier than their planned departures will likely cost the government tens of millions of dollars in travel and relocation costs.
