In an effort to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, one of the Trump administration’s first crusades was to shutter U.S. foreign aid across the world. But as the months ticked by, more and more incidents of waste began to surface — from food assistance expiring in Dubai, HIV medication idling on shelves in South Sudan, and contraceptives incinerated in Europe — often with few staff, little guidance, and nowhere else for that aid to legally go.
The first detailed account of that fallout arrived last week, when USAID’s independent watchdog released an audit examining canceled aid programs in a mission that lost every one of its 66 awards: El Salvador.
The report shows that when those awards were canceled, over $1 million of U.S. government property was handed over to local institutions or retained by implementing partners, a process that was described by those on the ground as “chaotic.”
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
