The Trump administration’s gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development has delayed food aid shipments and left the assistance without needed oversight to ensure it’s not wasted or diverted, the USAID inspector general said Monday.
Some 90% of the staff for USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance has been furloughed or placed on administrative leave, which has “undermined two key oversight mechanisms to ensure accountability over humanitarian assistance funding: partner vetting and third-party monitoring,” the inspector general’s report says.
The report estimates $489 million in food assistance is at risk. About 500,000 metric tons of food purchased under the Food for Peace program is currently at sea or awaiting shipment.
“Because this funding source was not included under the secretary’s emergency food assistance waiver, these commodities were held in limbo, subjecting them to spoilage, unanticipated storage needs, and potential diversion,” the report says, referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Other food has been stored in pre-positioning warehouses around the world, including $39 million in commodities in Houston and $40 million in Djibouti in east Africa, the report says.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., reported Saturday that Rubio had allowed food aid shipments to resume by issuing notices to aid organizations ensuring that the commodities were exempt from the suspension of foreign aid and stop-work order.
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However, the inspector general’s report says that the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance staff reduction, “together with a lack of clarity about the scope of the humanitarian assistance waivers and the extent of permissible communications between BHA staff and its implementers, has significantly impacted USAID’s capacity to disburse and safeguard its humanitarian assistance programming.
“Specifically, USAID’s existing oversight controls — albeit with previously identified shortcomings — are now largely nonoperational given these recent directives and personnel actions.”
USAID relies on inspections by third-party monitors to make sure aid is delivered properly, especially in areas where agency staff can’t travel safely. But the inspector general's report says the pause in foreign assistance resulted in suspending third-party monitoring contracts, “including in high-risk environments such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Haiti, Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Syria, and Venezuela.”
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