The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will allow ousted employees 15 minutes to retrieve personal effects from the agency’s headquarters Thursday and Friday, the agency posted in a Tuesday notice.
Former employees will be “escorted to their workspace” and undergo “x-ray machine screening upon entry” to the Ronald Reagan Building headquarters before gathering their items, according to USAID’s website. Staff were also warned against bringing any “prohibited items” — including, but not limited to, billy clubs, brass knuckles, martial arts weapons, axes or hatchets, BB guns, bows and arrows, dynamite or chlorine for pools and spas — with them during their allotted retrieval window.
The announcement comes as President Donald Trump, and with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), appears to advance toward the final phases of dismantling USAID.
“This Thursday and Friday ONLY — on February 27 and 28, 2025 — USAID staff will have one opportunity to retrieve their personal belongings … Staff will be given approximately 15 minutes to complete this retrieval and must be finished removing items within their time slot only,” the instructions read. “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.”
The agency warned former staff that if they fail to collect their belongings during their designated timeslots, the items could be damaged, lost or otherwise stored in a government warehouse.
“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 notice reads. “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.”
USAID’s instructions come after a federal judge allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its staffing purges Friday, rejecting a union-led effort to temporarily halt the president’s plan to dismiss virtually all of the agency’s worldwide staff. The ruling allowed Trump to move forward with firing an additional 1,600 U.S.-based employees Monday, the Associated Press reported. The humanitarian agency, now led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, plans to reduce its global workforce from over 10,000 to 294, according to Reuters.
DOGE cites USAID cuts as the top contributor to its reported $65 billion in federal savings.
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