by ANNA BEDFORD-DiILLOW, THE GREENBELT NEWS-REVIEW
This week, three of several Greenbelt residents who work for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) agreed to speak with the News Review about their experiences as Elon Musk attempts to dismantle the agency they work for. All USAID employees we reached out to feared reprisal and we are using aliases to protect their identities.
David (not his real name) lives in Greenbelt and has worked for USAID for 15 years. He works in the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). “We’re like FEMA for the rest of the world,” he explained. “So whenever there’s a natural disaster or a conflict or a humanitarian crisis outside of the United States we respond to them.” USAID has direct hires, civil servants and institutional services contractors (ISCs) who work for a company but are embedded in USAID. There are also personal services contractors (PSCs) who have a direct contract with the government and act like an individual company, explains David. He’s in the latter category.
Melissa (not her real name) is a federal employee at USAID, which she joined in 2013. She described her role as working in compliance. Greenbelter Stephanie (not her real name) has worked for USAID for over a decade. She preferred not to share the area in which she works.
Read the full article at The Greenbelt News-Review.