Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
USAID is All But Dead
The writing was on the wall, almost as soon as President Trump took office. USAID was in his sights early on, and he couldn’t have picked a better, more blatant demonstration of government waste, abuse and fraud. USAID’s abuses were so outrageous that it was difficult to understand the protests that arose when their mismanagement was discovered. But we could count on the Democrats to ignore the huge abuses and focus on the humanitarian causes of the agency. Jeremy Konyndyk of Refugees International described the actions of DOGE in this way:
‘They’re trying to eliminate the agency,’ Konyndyk said.
‘They have announced no plan and given no rationale — they’re just taking everything down,’ Konyndyk said. ‘They’re trying to do it behind the scenes rather than openly,’ he said, so they don’t have to ‘defend what they’re doing’ in announcements to the public.
The consequences of a diminished or erased USAID would be dire, Konyndyk said, noting that one key component of its programs is keeping outbreaks and epidemics from reaching U.S. shores.
To be generous, Mr. Konyndyk’s remarks were disingenuous on almost every count. Musk set out to do a 90-day review of the agency’s operations. To say that they gave “no plan and given no rationale” is absurd. I guess he missed the announcements by Trump and Musk to root out waste, fraud, and abuse (which were rife in USAID). Nearly every day there have been postings on the results of their investigations. This is a partial list.
The review of their work has been mostly completed:
Whatever USAID was or wasn’t meant to be when President John F. Kennedy created the program by executive order in 1961, it effectively is no more.
Wall Street Mav reported on Sunday that the White House intends to ‘eliminate roughly $60 billion in foreign aid spending and terminate 92% of grants issued by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).’
‘The figures were included in a State Department memo detailing the results of a 90-day review of US foreign aid ordered by President Trump,’ which identified ‘nearly 15,000 grants and targeted almost 10,000 for elimination — the majority of which were issued by USAID.’
How did the agency morph into such a despicable and outrageous agency? Here’s what one skeptical writer said:
Oh, spare me the sob stories. Of the $4 billion earmarked for Haiti, almost half of it never went much farther than the D.C. beltway. More than half went to ‘other.’ About 2% went to Haitian firms. Six houses were built.
There’s a case to be made that charitable people like us should help feed the hungry and provide disaster relief to those who can’t afford it. But USAID ain’t it.
You won’t be surprised to learn that George Soros was in on the scam:
Back in 1988, George Soros’s Open Society Foundation (OSF) helped establish the East-West Management Institute (EWMI). Exactly how isn’t well understood, so I asked both Grok and ChatGPT to look into it for me. Neither LLM was able to come up with much but they both described the relationship as ‘opaque.’
Fine, whatever — Soros can do what he wants with his money. Except that over the last decade or two, EWMI received an estimated $270 million in tax money, largely through USAID, with another $90 million on tap. What does EWMI do with your money? That’s none of your business. Your tax dollars go — or rather, went — to a Soros organization that does what Soros wants. You just get to pay.
As programs began to shut down, the direst consequences were predicted:
‘Any type of communicable disease, I think we will see rage rampant. I think we will see increased conflict in the world. I think we will see increased terrorism in the world. And so, I think, the implications are going to be really dire in terms of the instability that this creates in already very unstable regions of the world,’ said Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO of Alight, an international organization that provides food, medicine and services for refugees in 20 countries around the world.
Ms. Wyatt, unlike some administrators, was willing to acknowledge that their future will be difficult, but unlike other organizations, they will survive:
Despite the turmoil of the last few weeks, she was reticent to speak publicly out of a concern that her organization and the clients they serve, could be impacted and retaliated against.
She said she understands the new administration’s push to evaluate taxpayer spending and foreign aid and that she was prepared to undergo an evaluation of their organization and make sure it aligned with Trump’s American First foreign policy.
It’s tragic to witness these self-inflicted wounds that USAID is responsible for. Although they did provide some important programs, their negligent and irresponsible decisions regarding many programs were highly partisan and inappropriate. Many of the left-wing programs they sponsored would have contradicted the values of the countries where they worked; they were determined to meet their own political agendas, and many countries went along because they expected the U.S. to be honorable and helpful.
Since much of the funding has been canceled, any worthwhile programs will probably be folded into the State Department, where it properly belongs.
What do you think about this situation?
Published in General
Another fine post, Susan.
Thanks so much, Gary!
Yes, very fine. Now, can we talk about the Department of Education? 😸
I’m so ready!!!
Nothing is really dead until Congress proudly defunds it. I suspect the slush fund hiding behind an untrackable foreign influence campaign is just too temping for Congress to let go of.
Put me down for paying members of Congress much more, but with term limits.
Maybe they’ll be able to better control the slush fund if it’s under State.
This is certainly true, and it will be interesting to see the results. One of the issues with the various USAID scandals is that it may promote the incorrect theory that all types of extra-territorial assistance are boondoggles to be eliminated. However, when properly administered and, most importantly selected, they can play a role in foreign policy and even national defense. The whole concept needs to be redone, but there is room for the Administration to tout its initiatives in this area.
I’m unsure whether it’s fear or anticipation, but I’m certainly eager to learn some particulars. Some speculative reports I’ve seen indicate a possible derailing of shadow governments running other countries through the guise of grants. If it is so, that’s more trust for R’s as the midterms near.
If the “Open Society” foundation run by the Soros family can keep traditional media up and running until Congress decides on whether they will embrace the new roads forward out of grift, abuse, more grift, duplicated expenses etc, or else they won’t, things could return to what went on before.
There is also the matter that US Fed spending is, in terms of Congressional approval, expected to be just as exorbitant as it was prior to DOGE.
This last issue is discussed by Anne Coulter & the Hon Thomas Massie, R from Kentucky at this link: https://ricochet.com/series/unsafe-with-ann-coulter/
Here’s what I think of it:
“La Réjouissance” by G. F. Händel
Perfect! and beautiful. And then there’s the everyday jargon: YIPPEE! Thanks, Steve.
USAID is All But Dead
Works for me.
I suspect if we ever do actually get around to sorting through this entire sorry mess that USAID is just a very small part of the problem. It may not even be the rounding error to the amount of grift in the government systems. I have seen way too many government related people making way too much money without the intelligence to get out of the rain but to have the proper relationship with government people.
I suspect every department has plenty, and those departments where it is outside the constitutional mandate of the federal government even more so. The whole Department of Education should go. Energy might have a piece or two that should go back to Defense, but otherwise, boondoggle. Etc.
You wouldn’t be talking about Nancy P., would you?
There’s a lot of domestic corruption too.
I have worked for the Department of State for 25 years and have been to 120 countries. I have personally seen this fraud, waste, and abuse first hand all over the world. I recently took the fork in the road and will retire this year 2 1/2 years early thanks to President Trump. I am so glad that USAID is finally being held accountable after far too long.
120 countries is amazing! I’ve only been to 25-ish, and I found everyone fascinating. You must have stories to tell.
And congrats on your retirement!
How accurate would you say this assessment is:
https://www.newsclick.in/usaids-ugly-face-domestic-meddling-subversion-and-expulsions?amp
From which:
Thank you for your service, and enjoy your retirement, Victor!
That is where it should be, a tool for the ambassador to use to further the president’s execution of our strategic goals, not tucked away in a secret, secure office separate from the ambassador’s watchful eye, implementing ideological goals. In fact, by their very secretiveness and independence, they were weakening the hands of our ambassadors.
They were secretive when I crossed paths with them 5 years before you were in State. I was in DoD with an embassy badge and access to certain meetings.
Sun rises in east.
The most important words in the title are “all but”. When those are redundant, I shall be satisfied. But not until then.
None of what was in that article would surprise me, but I have no first hand knowledge of that. What I saw was programs with little to no oversight by USAID or State so the money just disappears. They also lived much more lavish lifestyles than their State Department colleagues. They would opt out of the embassy housing pool so they could get bigger houses than regulations would allow and avoid required security upgrades. They could afford to build new office buildings while the embassy is in an old dilapidated building. When USAID was required to collocate into the embassy compound after the Nairobi and Dar bombings, they were very unhappy.
These stories really upset me, and I’m also glad you’re relating them.
I was surprised in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Kazakhstan how the USAID mission had its own office space and operated independently of the US embassy. Their attitude was screw the ambassador and State – we get our orders from Washington. It’s an adjustment that has needed to be made a long time ago.
I always heard the many Q rumors that JFK is still among the living.
Oh, how the Q crowd laughed at me, when I pointed out that if alive he would be a centurian by May 2017.
But now in reading this, must I offer up a mea culpe?…
He may be one of those people on the DOGE list still getting Social Security. :-)
If USAID’s primary purpose was to buy influence, doesn’t basically abolishing it reduce that influence? At least in the medium term?