Personnel moves have raised concerns about oversight, according to the inspector general
The federal government’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has largely left the agency unable to oversee billions in unspent aid, according to a Feb. 10 watchdog report.
The federal government has paused most USAID programs, except for life-saving assistance, and placed many employees on leave after President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending foreign aid while a review is conducted.
Oversight operations for $8.2 billion in unspent aid are “now largely nonoperational given these recent directives and personnel actions,” the USAID Office of Inspector General said in the report.
While a federal judge has issued an order pausing the directive to place many USAID workers on leave, that order “does not obviate, at this time, concerns regarding the capacity of BHA staff to work with implementing partners to protect and distribute humanitarian assistance commodities and conduct vital oversight of taxpayer-funded programs,” the inspector general added.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report examined operations at the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, or BHA, a USAID office responsible for providing humanitarian assistance such as nutrition to countries around the world. BHA, before recent terminations, had nearly 1,100 staff members, about half of whom were based in Washington.
When USAID notified its workforce on Feb. 4 about impending paid leave, BHA staff began losing access to USAID computer systems. Hundreds of BHA staffers were placed on leave, while hundreds of contractors were furloughed, temporarily reducing the BHA workforce by about 90 percent.
The waivers from the State Department for life-saving aid should let the $8.2 billion in undistributed assistance flow but the personnel moves have raised concerns about oversight, according to the inspector general.
BHA typically vets aid recipients to make sure U.S. funds don’t benefit terrorists and their supporters, but USAID staff told the watchdog that the vetting unit has recently been told not to report to work and cannot conduct partner vetting. “This gap leaves USAID susceptible to inadvertently funding entities or salaries of individuals associated with U.S.-designated terrorist organizations,” the report stated.
