A senior official at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) warned in an email on Sunday that the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency would lead to unnecessary deaths—only to inform his staff less than 30 minutes later that he had been placed on leave.
Nicholas Enrich, USAID’s acting assistant administrator for global health, stated in a seven-page memo seen by Reuters that “political leadership” had made it impossible to deliver lifesaving humanitarian assistance worldwide. His comments directly contradicted assurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had said aid would continue despite President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s cost-cutting measures.
Twenty minutes after sending the memo, Enrich sent another email, also seen by Reuters, stating that he had “just received notification that I have been placed on administrative leave, effective immediately.”
A source familiar with the situation said the decision to place Enrich on administrative leave was made on Wednesday, prior to his memo about USAID’s dismantling. Spokespeople for the State Department and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Enrich also did not respond to Reuters’ inquiries.
Enrich’s memo highlighted the impact of the blocked USAID programs, including efforts to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in Uganda that had killed two people and infected ten others.
“This will no doubt result in preventable death, destabilisation, and threats to national security on a massive scale,” Enrich wrote in the memo, dated 28 February and widely shared with USAID’s global health division on Sunday afternoon.
Last week, the Trump administration announced the cancellation of nearly 10,000 foreign aid grants and contracts worth almost $60 billion, effectively ending around 90% of USAID’s global operations. The closure of the agency is part of a broader effort to downsize the federal government under Musk’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency, throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into turmoil.
In a separate memo seen by Reuters, Enrich estimated that a year-long pause in USAID’s lifesaving aid could result in between 71,000 and 166,000 additional malaria deaths—a nearly 40% increase—along with a 28% to 32% rise in tuberculosis cases worldwide and up to 28,000 cases of emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola.
Following Trump’s order to freeze all foreign aid in January pending a review, Secretary of State Rubio had issued a temporary waiver for critical assistance, including essential medicines, food, and shelter.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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