WASHINGTON, D.C. – Liz Schrayer, President and CEO of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC), released the following statement on the Administration’s latest decisions on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID):

Abruptly putting nearly every USAID direct hire employee on administrative leave and recalling nearly all American personnel from overseas – all before conducting any thoughtful review of U.S. foreign policy priorities – is another bewildering step in an increasingly flawed and chaotic process. With enormous threats to America’s security and prosperity, now is not the time to physically retreat from the global field while our rivals run unopposed. And make no mistake — our rivals will seek to exploit the vacuum we leave behind.

The 2024 GOP Platform committed to “end the global chaos and restore Peace through Strength, reducing geopolitical risks and lowering commodity prices.” To do so, we will need to utilize all aspects of American strength, from our military deterrence to our humanitarian, development, and security assistance. It will also require a thoughtful strategy.

Yanking career public servants off the frontline, who have served across Republican and Democratic Administrations alike, often at great personal risk in high-threat environments around the world, is neither strategic nor cost-effective. It is chaotic. Expending public funds to fly thousands of personnel and their families back to the U.S. and house them before a plan is even in place and in such short order is a step backwards for American global leadership.

The American people deserve a thoughtful foreign assistance review process that is strategic and transparent in order to build a stronger, safer, and more prosperous nation – not a backdoor effort to close USAID without Congressional consultation. We should support reform – not retreat.