An ominous cloud continues to hang over the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as the president and tech billionaire Elon Musk have the organization clearly in their sights for demolition.
But before Americans jump on board because of allegations that the aid agency is a “criminal organization,” as Musk has previously stated, or move in lockstep with the president, who claims that he’s closing USAID because its spending “is totally unexplainable,” we hope that Americans will ask for proof.
So far, neither the president nor Musk have produced irrefutable evidence to validate their claims. But we have read unsubstantiated claims including allegations of a grant of $1.5 million to an LGBTQIA+ group in Serbia, $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam and $6milion for tourism in Egypt.
We’d like to check the facts but that’s difficult since social media moguls like Musk and Mark Zuckerberg recently eliminated staffers who once verified statements made on platforms like X and Facebook.
Meanwhile, the president has been clear: his goal is to reduce or eliminate overseas spending, which does not align with his “America First” philosophy. But should USAID serve as the first of many targets?
On Feb. 9, on The Hill, a weekly politics show featuring Fox 5’s Tom Fitzgerald, a former USAID official, and current senior fellow at the Brookings Institute George Ingram, offered a concise analysis of the initiatives supported by USAID.
Since its founding in 1961 by Congress through the Foreign Assistance Act, USAID has had several goals:
- to respond to disasters around the world with life-saving medicine, food and water
- to promote health programs like PEPFAR, which has saved 26 million from succumbing to the ravages of HIV/AIDS in Africa, as well as monitor global health and climate change
- to promote economic and social development
- to work with countries to keep diseases and viruses, like malaria, polio or Ebola, from reaching epidemic levels and then spreading around the world.
Ingram concluded by noting that in 2023, USAID received an award for maintaining outstanding financial accountability.
It is true that most of the groundwork handled by USAID is carried out by other organizations that are contracted and funded by USAID and it would be wise to conduct a financial audit. But shuttering its doors is not the answer. The work it does is too important because in the long run, it saves lives, day after day, year after year.
Perhaps during the early 20th century, America had the option of closing its borders, isolating itself from the rest of the world, and focusing solely on “America.”
But not today – not anymore. There are no real borders in 2025 – not with social media and the internet, global trade markets or viruses like COVID which circumnavigate the globe with the aid of the wind.