48 MARCH 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL In Defense of the U.S. Foreign Service and USAID These are unprecedented times for the Foreign Service community. In response to the administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID, on Feb. 6, AFSA joined a lawsuit in defense of this member agency to halt the imminent, irreversible damage to USAID members of the Foreign Service. Our actions seek to mitigate that harm and hold the administration accountable to lawful, orderly processes. Here, for the record, we reprint the introduction to the lawsuit. To read the complete lawsuit filed on Feb. 6, see https://bit.ly/AFSA-lawsuit. AFSA NEWSTHE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION AFSA & AFGE v. Donald Trump, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Treasury Department, Marco Rubio, and Scott Bessent Introduction This action seeks declaratory and injunctive relief with respect to a series of unconstitutional and illegal actions taken by President Donald Trump and his administration that have systematically dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests. The first of these actions came on January 20, 2025, when Defendant Trump issued an Executive Order [No. 14169] titled “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” directing an immediate “90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.” Defendants State Department and Rubio then directed the immediate issuance of stop-work orders on USAID foreign assistance awards. USAID grantees and contractors reeled as they were—without any notice or process—constrained from carrying out their work alleviating poverty, disease, and humanitarian crises. Defendant Rubio subsequently was named by Defendant Trump as Acting Director of USAID and announced that he would consult with Congress on “potential reorganization” of the agency. Shortly after assistance funding was frozen, over one thousand USAID institutional support contractors—and thousands more employees of USAID contractors or grantees—were laid off or furloughed. The humanitarian consequences of defendants’ actions have already been catastrophic. USAID provides life-saving food, medicine, and support to hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Without agency partners to implement this mission, U.S.-led medical clinics, soup kitchens, refugee assistance programs, and countless other programs shuddered to an immediate halt. Days ago, Elon Musk and other members of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) gutted what remained of the agency. Members of DOGE reportedly demanded access to classified USAID systems without requisite security clearances; USAID security officials who attempted to block them were placed on administrative leave. Musk posted on February 3 that he spent the previous weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” and that same day, USAID headquarters shut down. More than 1,000 employees— including some in war zones—were locked out of their computer accounts. The usaid.gov website now indicates that “all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally” on Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 PM. Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization. And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency. Given the severe ongoing harms suffered by plaintiffs and defendants’ intent to inflict imminent future harm, plaintiffs now file this Complaint and will seek a temporary restraining order directing Defendants to reverse these unlawful actions and to halt any further steps to dissolve the agency until the Court has an opportunity to more fully consider the issues on the merits. n
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