June 8, 2026 (WASHINGTON) – The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) welcomes recent hiring efforts underway in the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), while emphasizing that significant staffing and operational capacity gaps remain across the U.S. foreign assistance system.
Since the shuttering of USAID in early 2025 and the transition of foreign assistance programs from USAID to the State Department (and USDA), MFAN has been sounding the alarm over State Department capacity and the urgent need for increased staffing if the Department is to successfully manage and implement vital international assistance programs.
MFAN is encouraged by recent news of hiring efforts now underway at the State Department, including within the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD), the Bureau for Disaster and Humanitarian Response (DHR), the Office of the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs and Religious Freedom, as well as at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These steps reflect growing recognition that sufficient staffing and technical expertise are essential to ensuring international assistance delivers high impact.
At the same time, significant capacity concerns remain – particularly within the regional bureaus and at U.S. embassies overseas. Secretary Rubio has repeatedly emphasized that Chiefs of Mission and regional bureaus will play a central role in leading and overseeing U.S. foreign assistance. Realizing that vision will require sustained investment in the field-based personnel who provide the technical expertise, local relationships, implementation oversight, and contextual understanding that make assistance programs work in practice.
As hiring efforts continue, it will be critical to ensure that investments in Washington are matched by investments in the field. Expanding headquarters staffing should not come at the expense of hiring and retaining skilled personnel overseas, especially national staff, who are closest to implementation, best understand local contexts, and play an indispensable role in managing programs, ensuring strong oversight of U.S. resources, and ensuring that U.S. assistance achieves its intended impact.
In addition to staffing increases, MFAN is encouraged by the State Department’s recent signals that it intends to engage external partners to strengthen and expand the Department’s capacity across a broad range of functions, including monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL); technical advisory and subject matter expertise; capacity building and training; data management, analysis, and visualization; grant administration and implementation; commercial diplomacy and market development; and operational and logistical support. Leveraging the expertise of experienced partners with deep knowledge of evidence-based best practices will be essential to ensuring programs are effectively designed, managed, and evaluated – and to maximizing the impact and effectiveness of U.S. international assistance.
Many of the policy, organizational, and implementation challenges now coming into sharper focus at State were identified by MFAN beginning early last year in a series of policy reports. These included The Future of U.S. Development and Humanitarian Assistance: Recommendations for Influence and Impact (March 2025); bipartisan Consensus Principles & Recommendations for the Future of U.S. International Assistance (July 2025) report, one of the first substantive roadmaps for preserving effective U.S. foreign assistance developed alongside bipartisan leaders spanning Republican and Democratic administrations, the recommendations reflect a shared conviction that getting U.S. international assistance right is a matter of national interest, not partisanship; and comprehensive MFAN recommendations on strengthening State Department operational readiness and staffing capacity, Operational Readiness: What the State Department Needs to Effectively Manage U.S. International Development and Humanitarian Assistance (September 2025).
Moving forward, it is important to create a long-term pathway toward rebuilding and expanding the workforce with development expertise. Strengthening staffing in-country and across regional bureaus will be critical to restoring operational effectiveness and proper oversight and stewardship of U.S. taxpayer funds.
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About MFAN
The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) is a bipartisan coalition of international development practitioners, policy advocates, and experts committed to making U.S. foreign assistance more effective, accountable, and results-driven.
For media inquiries, please contact Tod Preston, MFAN Executive Director, at Tod.Preston@modernizeaid.net
