Rattled civil servants struggled with whether to leave their posts in advance of a Thursday deadline as Elon Musk continued his push through agencies.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is pulling almost all U.S. Agency for International Development workers off the job and out of the field worldwide, moving to all but end a six-decade mission to shore up American security by fighting starvation, funding education and working to end epidemics.

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced that it was going to put on leave all directly hired employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development globally and recall thousands of personnel working overseas.