USAID cuts mean agency can’t ensure aid not going to terrorists, comptroller warns

The US Agency for International Development has lost almost all ability to ensure $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid does not end up in terrorist hands following the Trump administration’s foreign funding freeze and idling of staffers, a government watchdog warns.

The administration’s fast-moving dismantling of the agency has left oversight of the aid “largely nonoperational,” USAID’s inspector general’s office says in a report, specifically noting past concerns of aid money going to Hamas and other terror groups.

The cutoff of funds means that the monitors charged with making sure no US aid in the Middle East or Central Asia reaches the Islamic State group, Hezbollah, the Houthis or Hamas have been told not to come to work, the watchdog says.

“This gap leaves USAID susceptible to inadvertently funding entities or salaries of individuals associated with U.S.-designated terrorist organizations,” reads the report.

The watchdog office notes that it had pushed USAID last year to boost its training of agency staff to make sure that those monitors were properly screening for any such diversion of aid.

Pointing to a July report from the ombudsman that warned of Hamas diverting humanitarian aid in Gaza, the Inspector General’s Office says that “over the past 2 weeks, staffing shortages and limitations on communications with aid organizations stemming from the cessation of U.S. foreign assistance have limited
USAID’s ability to receive, react to, and report allegations of diversion.”

Trump signed an executive order on January 20 freezing foreign assistance, forcing US-funded aid and development programs worldwide to shut down and lay off staff. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had sought to mitigate the damage by issuing a waiver to exempt emergency food aid and “life-saving” programs.