The head of a Peace Corps alumni group said on Monday he had been informed that the agency was planning to reduce the number of full-time staff who support volunteers overseas.
The official, Dan Baker, president and chief executive of the National Peace Corps Association, said he had heard the news the same day from Cheryl Faye, who is the Peace Corps’ acting deputy chief executive. He said he was told that the cuts were planned at the behest of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and other foreign-aid agencies.
The Peace Corps confirmed in a statement that the Musk team was assessing its operations and “working to identify additional efficiencies in our staffing structure.”
“The agency will remain operational and continue to recruit, place, and train volunteers, while continuing to support their health, safety and security, and effective service,” the Peace Corps said.
Mr. Baker said he had been told that the Peace Corps would not close any offices in foreign countries or reduce the numbers of volunteers it takes per year. The agency, which operates independently within the executive branch, was founded under President John F. Kennedy. It has about 3,000 volunteers who serve for two years in one of 60 developing countries.
“The Peace Corps has received guidance that they’re not going to cut volunteers and countries, but the staffing impact is going to be significantly stressful for their operations,” Mr. Baker said, recounting the conversation.
The Peace Corps has about 970 full-time American employees who recruit new volunteers and oversee their training, health care and security. Of those employees, about 790 work in the United States.
Mr. Baker said he was not told how many of those jobs the Peace Corps intended to cut.
To begin the reductions, Mr. Baker said, the agency on Monday offered employees a chance to take “early retirement,” to be paid through the end of this year. The agency confirmed in its statement that staff members had until May 6 to apply for the administration’s “deferred resignation” offer.