THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 27 as well as they do because nonpartisan civil servants are (or were) protected by rules that shield them from partisan interference. What happened to USAID is continuing to happen across the federal government. We are losing the capacity to deliver the policies, programs, services, and resources that the American people depend on on a nonpartisan basis—and this further erodes public faith in government institutions and, ultimately, in democracy itself. Building OUC USAID’s workforce was global and diverse. In 2024 we numbered approximately 16,000—but fewer than 5,000 were career Foreign Service or Civil Service officers. The majority were institutional support contractors, Foreign Service Limited, FSNs, PSCs, and U.S. national PSCs, whose employment protections varied enormously depending on their hiring mechanism, regardless of their years of service or experience. When USAID was dismantled, it affected all of us—but it did not affect all of us in the same way. In the early days of the dismantling, small groups of USAID staff began researching the regulations governing administrative leave, reductions in force, and federal benefits, and organizing what they found into resources their colleagues could actually use. We shared these materials widely, creating a growing “clearinghouse” to help our colleagues understand their rights and support one another through the chaotic separation process. Today, OUC has more than 2,400 members and is open to anyone who held a usaid.gov email address, regardless of hiring mechanism. Our core mission is to empower our members to defend their rights, navigate the complex administrative and legal landscape created by USAID’s dismantling, and remain connected to a community that understands what they have lost and what they are fighting for. We provide legal, administrative, personnel, and other support and resources, send weekly updates and host monthly member meetings to offer analysis of the evolving legal landscape, explain the impact of ongoing litigation on our community, and share practical guidance on navigating the process of separation and advocating for our rights. Our work includes ensuring that career Foreign Service and Civil Service members—many of whom have had to represent themselves in administrative proceedings—are not left to navigate those processes alone. More than 2,200 of our colleagues have filed individual appeals to defend their rights at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Hundreds more who are excluded from the MSPB’s appeal system are pursuing claims in other fora. We partner with our unions, legal support organizations, and volunteer lawyers to provide pro bono and “low bono” legal support to colleagues who need it most and have raised more than $30,000 to date to support USAID alumni legal action. This is a great start—but we recognize that the road ahead is long and that we will need more financial support. Everything OUC has accomplished over the past year—the legal resources curated, the guidance shared, the administrative services obtained, the connections made, the funds raised, the appeals supported—has been done entirely by volunteers. Former USAID staff, who had just lost their own jobs and a mission that defined them, turned around and built a support system for 2,400 of their colleagues. That is not a bureaucratic achievement. That is a community. And it tells you everything you need to know about who the USAID workforce is. Lessons for the Future Whatever form U.S. foreign assistance takes going forward— whether USAID is reconstituted in some form, merged into State, or replaced with something new—the experiences of the past year have surfaced lessons that cannot be ignored. First, the statutory and institutional guardrails that were supposed to protect the federal workforce were not built for what happened. The Civil Service Reform Act and the Foreign Service Act were not designed to guide the adjudication of the wholesale dismantling of an agency. Administrative fora like the Merit Systems Protection Board were not built to handle a caseload of more than 20,000 appeals. Unions were not resourced or staffed to advise entire agency workforces simultaneously severed from service—while also fighting to maintain their bargaining rights. Volunteer organizations like OUC have stepped in to help fill this gap, but we know that we are helping former federal employees navigate a system that is increasingly stacked against them. Before the outstanding public servants who lost their livelihoods can feel protected enough to return to federal service, the statutes and institutions that form the foundation of the modern federal workforce will need to be reformed and their guardrails reinforced. The administration’s dismantling of USAID has been catastrophic. It has cost hundreds of thousands of lives around the world.
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