- USAID workers, who have been largely placed on leave, are being allowed 15-minute windows to return to their office and collect personal belongings. The process is being conducted with strict time limits and security measures, and employees are required to acknowledge they have no official government records in their possession.
USAID workers who have been placed on leave are being allowed back to the office in 15-minute windows to collect their belongings.
According to an email shared with staff and reviewed by Fortune, employees will be allowed to return to USAID's D.C. headquarters at the Ronald Reagan Building on Thursday or Friday this week for “approximately 15 minutes” to collect any personal items left behind.
The message said staff would be "escorted to their workspace" and would undergo "X-ray machine screening upon entry."
Staff were also told to bring their own "boxes, bags, tape, and/or other containers to remove their items" as "neither USAID nor any of our assisting agencies...will provide materials to assist with the retrieval process."
The email also warned staff with "a significant amount of personal belongings" to be "cognizant of time," but noted that flexibility may be granted in "select circumstances."
"If staff are unable to retrieve their items, and do not wish to have another staff member retrieve items in their absence, personal items will be packed by GSA and sent to a warehouse for collection at a later date and time," the email read. "GSA cannot guarantee that personal items not claimed during this time will be free from damage or loss, but will take all precautionary measures to safeguard items."
Staff working in satellite offices have not received instructions on when they can reenter the office, two USAID employees told Fortune. The email states that workers located outside of USAID headquarters would have the "opportunity to collect their personal belongings at a later date and time."
"Some people have worked at the agency for decades and this treatment is despicable," one USAID worker, who asked for anonymity to protect their job, said. "Not to mention there is no provision for properly disposing of sensitive government materials... Everything continues to be very haphazard and poorly organized."
Another worker told Fortune the email made "us feel like criminals."
Employees are also being asked to acknowledge they have retrieved all of their personal belongings at the end of their visit and "certify that they do not have any official government records in their possession—physical or electronic."
Representatives for USAID and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune.
Trump's war with USAID
USAID has been largely shuttered under the Trump administration, with most employees placed on leave or terminated since the president took office.
The aid agency was an early target of Elon Musk's new cost-cutting DOGE team. Earlier this month, USAID workers told Fortune that staff had been requested to work from home, with some losing access to government systems the following day.
The administration has also said it planned to pull almost all USAID workers out of the field worldwide. The agency employs around 1,700 people in its Foreign Service, per an update shared in 2020.
Many have criticized the closure of the aid agency and warned that it could have a devastating effect on at-risk groups around the world.
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said in an interview on The View that he was “worried” about plans to scale back USAID, claiming it could result in “literally millions of deaths.”
