The Trump administration's push to dismantle USAID, as well as the freeze on foreign assistance, is making it harder to track if humanitarian assistance funded by tax money is being misused, the agency's inspector general's office in a new report. In some cases, it added, it will make it more difficult to make sure that money is not going to terror groups, especially as the members of the unit within the agency tasked with that job has been told not to report to work.
The agency's independent watchdog said that even though it has "identified significant challenges and offered recommendations to improve Agency programming to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse" in the past, the recent decisions have had negative effects on oversight.
"Recent widespread staffing reductions across the Agency ... coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAID's ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance," reads a passage of the report, per CNN.
The outlet explained that funds going to places like Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza require "partner vetting" to make sure they don't end up in the hands of terror groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah or ISIS.
"While USAID OIG has previously identified gaps in the scope of partner vetting, 10 USAID staff have reported that the counter-terrorism vetting unit supporting humanitarian assistance programming has in recent days been told not to report to work (because staff have been furloughed or placed on administrative leave) and thus cannot conduct any partner vetting," the report added. Consequently, USAID is now more "susceptible to inadvertently funding entities or salaries of individuals associated with U.S.-designated terrorist organizations," it added.
The Trump administration's push to dismantle USAID continued on Monday as employees were denied entry when showing up to work despite a federal judge's ruling temporarily halting the purge.
USAID's interior signs were covered with tarps. A front desk officer informed employees that only a handful of individuals, no more than ten, were permitted inside. "Just go...Why are you here?" A man who identified himself as a USAID official told staff, as reported by The Associated Press.
The lockout unfolded despite U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols' ruling late Friday, which temporarily blocked Trump's directive to place thousands of USAID employees on leave.
Nichols acknowledged that workers faced "irreparable injury" and warned that Foreign Service officers stationed in conflict zones could lose access to life-saving security alerts.
"No future lawsuit could undo the physical harm that might result if USAID employees are not informed of imminent security threats," Nichols wrote.
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