Washington — All overseas missions for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, have been ordered to shut down and all staff will be recalled by Friday, multiple sources confirmed to CBS News.
The newly appointed deputy administrator for the agency, Pete Marocco, met with State Department leadership on Tuesday and instructed them to get every USAID employee out of their respective countries worldwide by Friday, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Marocco said that if the State Department did not, the staff would be evacuated by the U.S. military, the sources said.
The agency provides humanitarian aid to more than 100 countries, including disaster relief, health and medical aid, and emergency food programs.
USAID has more than 10,000 employees, with about two-thirds serving overseas, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The agency maintains more than60 country and regional missions. MORE