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A world-renowned US programme for international disaster and crisis response is now unable to deploy in major emergencies following the Trump administration’s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), nine sources told Reuters.
The Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs), known for rapid mobilisation within 24 to 48 hours, have been crucial in past crises, including the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Japan tsunami, and conflicts in Iraq and Syria. However, due to President Donald Trump’s funding freeze on USAID, the four DARTs currently operating in Afghanistan, Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine are no longer functioning as usual, according to seven current USAID employees who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution.
Some DART staff have been recalled to Washington, while others have lost access to email and internal systems. Each DART typically consists of 10 to 50 personnel, working alongside a Washington-based support team, which is now unable to operate as USAID staff are barred from entering their headquarters. This has made the assembly of new DART teams impossible, sources said.
“Our tools have been dismantled,” said one USAID employee.
The Trump administration has announced plans to merge USAID into the State Department and significantly cut staff, leaving the future of the DART system uncertain. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Marcia Wong, former deputy head of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), which oversees DARTs, warned that the cuts were severely weakening a unique civilian disaster response capacity.
“The DARTs are the highly visible, effective projection of the US interest in saving lives and helping people get out of crisis,” Wong said.
The BHA’s total budget in 2023 was $9.9 billion, but last week, a notice to USAID staff indicated that only 600 essential workers out of 10,000 would be retained, with no clarity on which personnel would remain.
DART staff, operating under the motto that “minutes matter,” are always prepared to deploy, often using military transport when commercial flights are unavailable. One experienced USAID responder recounted delivering aid using helicopters in Turkey, canoes in South Sudan, donkeys in Nepal, and camels in Ethiopia.
Over the years, DART teams have worked alongside military personnel and federal agencies, including the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission during Japan’s Fukushima nuclear crisis and health experts in the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak.
“DART teams have put their lives on the line from Afghanistan to DR Congo to Somalia. They have prevented pandemics and stopped famines,” said a senior Western aid official who has worked with DARTs for over a decade.
“No one knows who will take the lead when the next global crisis comes.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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