Absence of USAID likely slowed Ebola detection and response, former officials say

Until last year, the U.S.

Until last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development was part of a time-tested system for dealing with Ebola. In its absence, a dozen former federal employees told NBC News, the U.S. response to the growing outbreak has been slow and disjointed.

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The Trump administration hollowed out USAID last year, canceling the majority of its programs and firing most of its staffers. Roughly 1,000 programs were salvaged and absorbed into the State Department.

In interviews, former top officials at USAID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the White House said that if USAID was still intact, it’s possible its resources might have helped contain the virus in this new outbreak and even saved lives. The outbreak was identified last week in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but Ebola was likely spreading undetected for weeks before that. As of Wednesday, the number of suspected deaths stood at 139 and cases at 600, according to the World Health Organization, though the true numbers are feared to be much higher.