(10 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington – 27 February 2025
1. Various of Juliane Alfen walking out of USAID headquarters with her belongings
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Juliane Alfen, Presidential Management Fellow, Fired USAID employee:
"I’m Juliane Alfen. I’m a Presidential Management Fellow from the Class of 2023, and I’ve worked at USAID the past year and a half. I was just terminated on Monday on the fact that it was in the best interests of the government."
3. Various of sign for U.S. Agency for International Development which was recently covered with tape
4. Mid of demonstrators holding signs in support of federal workers outside USAID
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Washington – 30 January 2025
5. STILL President Donald Trump signs a document in the Oval Office at the White House
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington – 27 February 2025
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Juliane Alfen, Presidential Management Fellow, Fired USAID employee:
"I wanted to stay for the next 10, 20 years. I wanted to build my career here. The fellowship is very competitive too, and last week Trump terminated the fellowship, so most PMFs are in the same position and being let go from their respective agencies. There’s hundreds of us that were just starting out that will no longer be able to work."
7. Mid of Alfen hugging someone outside USAID
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Juliane Alfen, Presidential Management Fellow, Fired USAID employee:
"Definitely dream job, and only 3 percent — I believe it’s 3 to 5 percent of applications my year got through so it’s very competitive and it’s a long process with interviews."
9. Close sign that reads, (English) "You & your mission mattered!"
10. Close sign that reads, (English) “USAID Makes America Great”
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Juliane Alfen, Presidential Management Fellow, Fired USAID employee:
“Heartbreaking. I love the work that we do. I really care about it. I felt like we made a difference and to see everything disappearing before our eyes in a matter of weeks, it’s very scary to me and depressing.”
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of young and highly qualified Presidential Management Fellows have either been terminated or placed on administrative leave as the Trump administration continues a nationwide slashing of the federal workforce.
For decades, the Presidential Management Fellows program was seen as a building block for the civil service with the expectation that the few who earned the position would one day become leaders in the federal workforce.
Now the road ahead is uncertain.
One of President Donald Trump’s executive orders ended the program, which was created in 1978 to entice highly qualified workers with advanced degrees to join the federal government.
The Trump administration had ordered agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers in one fell swoop. That included recent classes of the fellows program, which has a two-year probationary period.
Fellows had persevered through a highly selective selection process that included multiple tests and evaluations as well as a blind interview. The agency website said about one in 10 applicants are accepted, although that number has been recently as low as just 3 percent.
While many fellows affected by the job cuts were reluctant to speak on the record, several did. As a group, they said they loved their jobs and see federal civil service as a way to serve their country. All would welcome, if given a chance, the opportunity to get back to work and use their expertise.
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