The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has posted detailed instructions on its website for the thousands of employees seeking to retrieve personal belongings from their offices inside the Ronald Reagan Building after being fired or placed on administrative leave.
The agency is giving employees two days – Thursday, Feb. 27, and Friday, Feb. 28 – to enter the building during designated time slots if they have items they would like to bring home. While the slots range from 60 minutes to 90 minutes overall, employees will have approximately 15 minutes to collect personal belongings from their work spaces.
“Staff will be given approximately 15 minutes to complete this retrieval and must be finished removing items within their time slot only,” the instructions stated. “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.”
They must also bring their own containers and supplies to remove and pack up their belongings.
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Before leaving the building with their items, USAID said staff “will be required to acknowledge receipt of their personal belongings” in order to keep agencies from being liable for items left behind. They will also be required to confirm that they do not have any physical or electronic government records with them.
USAID said Thursday and Friday are the only two days when retrieval will be allowed and employees must do it within the time slot that coordinates with their bureau. If staff members cannot make the time slot, only a designated alternate staff member can retrieve belongings as visitors, children and staff without proper credentials will not be allowed.
General Services Administration will pack up personal items that were not retrieved and will send them to a warehouse to be collected at a later date, the instructions said.
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There are 14 time slots for employees of 25 bureaus between the two retrieval days.
Employees will also return all USAID-issued government-furnished equipment during their time in the building.
On Sunday at midnight, the Trump administration placed nearly 1,600 USAID employees on administrative leave globally, excluding those working on mission-critical functions, core leadership or specially designated programs.
The reduction-in-force call came after thousands of USAID employees were fired, leaving only around 300 staffers left at the agency.
Trump decided to significantly cut down the agency after the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, determined that USAID wasted millions of dollars funding questionable programs and initiatives around the world.
For instance, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list that included $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq.
Several more examples have been uncovered, such as more than $900,000 to a “Gaza-based terror charity” called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to “advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”
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