The surprising images from the Myanmar earthquake were as dramatic as exposing the effects of Pummeling, the International Development Agency of Doge. Global media was filled with photos of Chinese and Russian search and rescue teams covered in insight to find the victims buried via tile rubs. The American flag was largely missing.
This exhibition of what it would look like for the United States to retreat from a strategically important country was the latest chapter in a two-month turmoil and condemnation surrounding USAID and foreign aid. As a former Republican employee at USAID, it’s clear that counterpunching is counterproductive. The discussion of foreign aid requires what computers need. Return to basics, factory reset.
For symbolic, tactical, political, and vindictive USAID reasons, the federal agency that fights African disease, feeds hunger, improves crops, and promotes 90 literacy and extremism in the world’s poorest counties was first seen in the Doge crosshairs. The agency woke up at Ground Zero in the Culture War in early January, and was the victim of the conveyor belt, a victim of President Trump’s executive order. “We spent the weekend feeding USAID to Wood Chipper,” Elon Musk Tweet.
The following months were not friendly to USAID. The staff is being attacked on a large scale. The office was closed unilaterally without “by your leave” to Congress. Even the USAID logo was ignorantly carved from the headquarters of the Ronald Reaganville. And the agency is paralyzed and unable to even respond to dramatic events such as the Myanmar earthquake.
Surprisingly, the pushback against Doge was substantial, as USAID is a relatively vague agency and is less than 1% of the federal budget. Certainly, I am amazed that institutional victims have achieved a level of attention that is rarely encountered in the course of important work in an obscure environment far from America. Rare front page coverage, investigative reports, council meetings, and pouring support from civic groups ironically benefited USAID’s general reputation.
Administrations seeking to portray USAID as a “scoundrel” agency have generally focused on “awakening” that backfired. Research reveals that Musk’s small list of bizarre offences that are mandatory for Biden administration have reached less than a tenth of the USAID budget. Many of the “uncovered” doge’s eccentric projects were not even part of the agency’s portfolio.
The fully restrained allegations of “waste, fraud, abuse” did not result in a single, awful charge, as it turned out. Over 99% of USAID jobs in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East were exactly what taxpayers and Congress expected.
After the Trump administration’s attack on USAID and the upheaval from allies, where are we today? Well, there are a lot of in vituperations built into the system, with surprisingly serious analysis by Congress and national security leaders.
The administration has proposed unilaterally firing almost all USAID staff and has pledged to terminate more than 80% of USAID’s overseas projects. Many senators and representatives are opposed to this unconstitutional dismantling, with hundreds of confirmations frozen in the Senate. There are many court cases that have been threatened and filed. Washington’s inflammatory rhetoric, and the suffering of unnecessary human abroad, are the order of the day, but fellow competitors such as China use American slides like Myanmar.
It’s obviously time to reset. It’s time to wipe out the chaotic politics of the last 90 days, clean up the chainsaws and everyone, and start a systematic investigation of what our country demands from its foreign aid program.
The timing of the reset is positive. The acolite of the Musk riots has mainly moved to other victims, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio firmly in charge of the State Department. He brings together a professional team to find out how foreign aid should be organized in the US and what role USAID should play. The rage of the past few months has crystallized the recognition that, if any, American foreign aid “soft power” is important to national security. If Rubio offers bipartisan hands to protest members of Congress, the hearing could launch serious enquiries of Times’ demand.
And there are a lot of public policy issues. The administration raised fair questions about whether foreign aid projects cannot be better matched with national priorities. How can you adjust the humanitarian and security dynamics? Which countries should our country target foreign aid? What role should the private sector play? As USAID supported in the case of South Korea, how can the US transfer the country from aid recipient to aid donor?
Stop nuts and diamond ribs surrounding USAID and foreign aid. The stakes are too high, and the risk of lasting mutual bllol in Washington is too serious about China’s surveillance and profits. For discussions of USAID and foreign aid, it is time for deep cleansing breathing and factory reset.
Jim Kunder served as deputy administrator at USAID during the George W. Bush administration and worked for agencies under three Republican administrations.
