The hundreds of furious people gathered in the heart of Washington, DC, on Wednesday, February 5, had an unusual detail: They were wearing masks. A stone's throw from the Capitol, they were protesting the scuttling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which delivers humanitarian aid abroad. A dismantling organized by billionaire Elon Musk, put in place by Donald Trump at the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It said a lot about the current sentiment of employees of the federal state that many of them did not want to share their identities.

Parrie Henderson, 63, was happy to reveal hers. For almost four decades, she has worked as an employee or contract worker for USAID on training missions. On January 27, she was giving a course on budgeting to employees from Ghana and Jordan when she was interrupted. "We were told to stop working immediately. People were in tears, they understood what was going to happen. Two days later, I received a message informing me that all my courses had been canceled."

Republicans' arguments against USAID exasperate the employees. The alleged mismanagement? "The agency is audited every year. The Pentagon, never." The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) programs, reviled by the right? "It's ridiculous. When I was called back to the agency, during Covid, we had a DEI class, one hour a month, about sexual assault and violence against women. It was fantastic training."

'They want to destroy the state'

Henderson is sure USAID programs also benefit the American economy. "I'm thinking of the money used to develop and buy products, manufactured in our states. In Georgia, there's a company that offers nutritional supplements that are very useful in the fight against malnutrition. Without our contract, it will have to close down for lack of customers."

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