Under the cloak of being a humanitarian aid organization designed to advance U.S. foreign policy is assigned the dirtiest tasks that the State Department can’t get caught doing
Comparing an annual budget to a change in net worth is an act of numerical illiteracy. Compare rates with rates and levels with levels.
If we look at companies with annual revenues of $40 billion, you’re talking the top 100 corporations in America. So US Aid has been acting with influence on the world at the scale of a massive corporation, except they produce no products or services, have no customers, and were apparently unheard of to most people until today.
Thank you for this fantastic explanation. Count me among those who had never even heard of USAID until now. Surprised? Nope. Thrilled that all this is coming to light? You bet.
It's a hard slog as we knew it would be--and now the corruption, on both sides of the aisle, is coming to light, and that is after all the best disinfectant.
"Politicians have slush funds they use to direct your tax dollars secretly to their supporters" Bad, but also "in other news, water is wet" somewhat expected. Pork and kickbacks are more of a quantitative objection, it's not so much "this is happening" that's fiercely objected to as "HOW MUCH WAS SPENT ON THAT!?"
OTOH, "A rogue government agency independently decided to secretly use your tax dollars to fund foreign radicals into overthrowing a democratically elected government that isn't even our adversary, much less one we've formally declared war against"... Yeah, that falls into full on "Are we the baddies?" territory. That's not a quantitative issue about how much we spent, though that's bad on its own merit, it's more the categorical issue of "WTF!? That is NOT something that should be happening!"
My 20+ years of experience was with the actual humanitarian aid side of their operations, especially Food for Peace, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Child Survival, and microcredit. The amount of bureaucratic cockups I’ve witnessed could fill a book, and these were supposed to be the good guys. A couple of examples:
-An emergency feeding program was approved for a remote food deficit island that was part of Indonesia. After the agreement was in place, the local Muslims and Hindus started a vicious little war. We decided we couldn’t undertake the project where we first proposed, but there were nearby areas equally food deficient. The food shipment hadn’t left the Port of New Orleans when we got approval to change the project location, but despite all our pleas, the bulk food was shipped to a port on the first island and stored in warehouses. Over time, it started to grow rancid, so we requested permission to sell it as animal feed, but our request was ignored. Eventually, we were forced to burn the entire shipment.
- USAID-FOOD FOR PEACE asked us to prepare a proposal to take over the management of a large UN World Food Programme refugee feeding project in the Horn of Africa, about 30,000 tonnes of commodities annually, mainly sorghum, vegetable oil, and lentils, to help reduce malnutrition among children in the sprawling refugee camps. We submitted a proposal and met with USAID who approved it almost immediately. Why? The WFP programme cost almost three times more than we needed to do the same activities. One question they asked was how could we do it for so much less than WFP. Because our staff doesn’t wear Rolexes, I explained. Our corporate culture was not to get rich off the backs of the poorest of the poor.
Once, during the arrival of a shipment of food from the US, we traveled to the port to observe the unloading of the seagoing barges. Food for Peace set minimum quality standards for the commodities that almost always exceeded locally produced commodities. Interestingly, a few docks over from where our food was being unloaded, a local vessel was being loaded with a much lower quality commodity, the same thing we were unloading, produced in the country and shipped abroad to purchase weapons for their never ending civil war.
I can’t even estimate how many millions of dollars of waste and corruption I personally observed.
I'm reminded of my time in advertising, working for certain "charities" chock full of rulers (Gates, Clinton) and gullible celebs pimping some cause guaranteed to make $1 difference for every $10,000 spent on cocktail parties, oops, I mean press-ops, oops I mean fundraisers. But the causes are just so idealistic and eye-watering that only a heartless demon like Trump or Musk would dare object!
This is fantastic "reporting" Adam! I just "retweeted" your tweet containing this substack entry. As I noted in my post, I like to think of it like this. The worst thing you can imagine about the government is the type of stuff they already got bored with doing. There is little doubt that this USAID fiasco is but a pimple on the ass of the tick riding on the back of the wild boar that feeds on similar programs active ALL OVER the government. Shutting down USAID, which will be almost impossible, for reasons you outline, would do about as much to "drain the swamp" as removing a teaspoon of sea water would lower the level of the Atlantic. (That said, I would still welcome it!) The more days that go by since the Orange Man took office, the more amazed I get with the hijinks typical in DC. And yet, many, if not most of my friends are still convinced, he's a white supremacist and we should be worried about DEI. Damn. #WeAreSoScrewed
Adam - this is such an important issue. Thank you for describing it in such a clear and succinct manner. I also appreciate your commentary on how the media employs "the pivot" to distract from the issue and change the topic of discussion. The democrats and the media, and sometimes the Republicans, change the subject by attacking the messenger and they never get to the merits of the issue. Their methodology is: 1) When you have the facts, argue the facts. 2) When you only have the law, argue the law. 3) When you have neither facts nor law, employ distraction, sleight of hand and attack the other side with ad hominem name calling. It is technique number 3 that is the bread and butter of the modern democrat party and, to some extent, the RINO/Cheaney/Kristol wing of the Republican party because they rarely have either facts or law on their side.
Thanks again for this. Wonderful and important writing this week...well, not just this week, but your last two have been really important and timely.
Yep, and G-d Bless @MikeBenzCyber for giving us the PhD education on our Deep State since its creation in 1948 to overthrow Italian elections. Follow him on X, all of his information can be backed up. Your minds will be blown.
I thought I followed things closely; I almost wish I hadn't gone into the weeds... This could bring down the entire government.
Thanks Adam. This piece is a keeper, if nothing else because I want to track progress in the dismantling of USAID. I had not followed Mike Benz but will now. One thing you didn't note here is that Trump is moving to fold USAID into the State Department for closer oversight, and that should make clean up easier.
Thank you. Yes, there is a lot thats happening and in his plans. He wants more oversight which I think is wonderful. When I see something major come up, I'll be talking about it.
EVERYTHING in DC is political. Not a penny gets committed to anything without consideration of how it benefits the party and its members. Both parties. One's about the same as the other.
It's been interesting watching to see what people really believe when the rubber meets the road. I never thought I would live to see the dismantling of that CIA front, a front with no oversight by Congress.
Even in the face of all the facts coming out about this miserable institution, our defective citizens are clinging to the narrative that defunding usaid will starve poor people worldwide. It makes me wonder, do such people know what they're saying? Are they trying to gaslight us? What the hell, man?
Comparing an annual budget to a change in net worth is an act of numerical illiteracy. Compare rates with rates and levels with levels.
If we look at companies with annual revenues of $40 billion, you’re talking the top 100 corporations in America. So US Aid has been acting with influence on the world at the scale of a massive corporation, except they produce no products or services, have no customers, and were apparently unheard of to most people until today.
This is a very good point. Thank you!
Thank you for this fantastic explanation. Count me among those who had never even heard of USAID until now. Surprised? Nope. Thrilled that all this is coming to light? You bet.
It's a hard slog as we knew it would be--and now the corruption, on both sides of the aisle, is coming to light, and that is after all the best disinfectant.
"Politicians have slush funds they use to direct your tax dollars secretly to their supporters" Bad, but also "in other news, water is wet" somewhat expected. Pork and kickbacks are more of a quantitative objection, it's not so much "this is happening" that's fiercely objected to as "HOW MUCH WAS SPENT ON THAT!?"
OTOH, "A rogue government agency independently decided to secretly use your tax dollars to fund foreign radicals into overthrowing a democratically elected government that isn't even our adversary, much less one we've formally declared war against"... Yeah, that falls into full on "Are we the baddies?" territory. That's not a quantitative issue about how much we spent, though that's bad on its own merit, it's more the categorical issue of "WTF!? That is NOT something that should be happening!"
If only its so simple about your view of "regime change" I suggest you ask Bangladeshis (as the article mentioned it), for start.
My 20+ years of experience was with the actual humanitarian aid side of their operations, especially Food for Peace, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Child Survival, and microcredit. The amount of bureaucratic cockups I’ve witnessed could fill a book, and these were supposed to be the good guys. A couple of examples:
-An emergency feeding program was approved for a remote food deficit island that was part of Indonesia. After the agreement was in place, the local Muslims and Hindus started a vicious little war. We decided we couldn’t undertake the project where we first proposed, but there were nearby areas equally food deficient. The food shipment hadn’t left the Port of New Orleans when we got approval to change the project location, but despite all our pleas, the bulk food was shipped to a port on the first island and stored in warehouses. Over time, it started to grow rancid, so we requested permission to sell it as animal feed, but our request was ignored. Eventually, we were forced to burn the entire shipment.
- USAID-FOOD FOR PEACE asked us to prepare a proposal to take over the management of a large UN World Food Programme refugee feeding project in the Horn of Africa, about 30,000 tonnes of commodities annually, mainly sorghum, vegetable oil, and lentils, to help reduce malnutrition among children in the sprawling refugee camps. We submitted a proposal and met with USAID who approved it almost immediately. Why? The WFP programme cost almost three times more than we needed to do the same activities. One question they asked was how could we do it for so much less than WFP. Because our staff doesn’t wear Rolexes, I explained. Our corporate culture was not to get rich off the backs of the poorest of the poor.
Once, during the arrival of a shipment of food from the US, we traveled to the port to observe the unloading of the seagoing barges. Food for Peace set minimum quality standards for the commodities that almost always exceeded locally produced commodities. Interestingly, a few docks over from where our food was being unloaded, a local vessel was being loaded with a much lower quality commodity, the same thing we were unloading, produced in the country and shipped abroad to purchase weapons for their never ending civil war.
I can’t even estimate how many millions of dollars of waste and corruption I personally observed.
Incredible. I sent you a private message on Substack.
I'm reminded of my time in advertising, working for certain "charities" chock full of rulers (Gates, Clinton) and gullible celebs pimping some cause guaranteed to make $1 difference for every $10,000 spent on cocktail parties, oops, I mean press-ops, oops I mean fundraisers. But the causes are just so idealistic and eye-watering that only a heartless demon like Trump or Musk would dare object!
Then there is Sean Penn and his humanitarian aid porn movies. I know of at least two, but can’t remember the titles.
After the Haiti earthquake, he had to do some community service, so he showed up in Haiti and of course was an instant expert.
This is fantastic "reporting" Adam! I just "retweeted" your tweet containing this substack entry. As I noted in my post, I like to think of it like this. The worst thing you can imagine about the government is the type of stuff they already got bored with doing. There is little doubt that this USAID fiasco is but a pimple on the ass of the tick riding on the back of the wild boar that feeds on similar programs active ALL OVER the government. Shutting down USAID, which will be almost impossible, for reasons you outline, would do about as much to "drain the swamp" as removing a teaspoon of sea water would lower the level of the Atlantic. (That said, I would still welcome it!) The more days that go by since the Orange Man took office, the more amazed I get with the hijinks typical in DC. And yet, many, if not most of my friends are still convinced, he's a white supremacist and we should be worried about DEI. Damn. #WeAreSoScrewed
Thank you 😊
I absolutely love watching these demons twist and shriek as they are exercised from our government. And political class.
Same lol
Adam - this is such an important issue. Thank you for describing it in such a clear and succinct manner. I also appreciate your commentary on how the media employs "the pivot" to distract from the issue and change the topic of discussion. The democrats and the media, and sometimes the Republicans, change the subject by attacking the messenger and they never get to the merits of the issue. Their methodology is: 1) When you have the facts, argue the facts. 2) When you only have the law, argue the law. 3) When you have neither facts nor law, employ distraction, sleight of hand and attack the other side with ad hominem name calling. It is technique number 3 that is the bread and butter of the modern democrat party and, to some extent, the RINO/Cheaney/Kristol wing of the Republican party because they rarely have either facts or law on their side.
Thanks again for this. Wonderful and important writing this week...well, not just this week, but your last two have been really important and timely.
Thank you! We finally have some real political stuff going on in D.C.
Once in a lifetime stuff. Far more interesting to talk about now!
Yep, and G-d Bless @MikeBenzCyber for giving us the PhD education on our Deep State since its creation in 1948 to overthrow Italian elections. Follow him on X, all of his information can be backed up. Your minds will be blown.
I thought I followed things closely; I almost wish I hadn't gone into the weeds... This could bring down the entire government.
Great reporting!
Thank you!
Thank you.
USAID lies about the use of the money, they use NGOs as cut outs to do things they can’t do legally.
USAID is not redeemable and needs to bee dismantled.
Agreed
Thanks Adam. This piece is a keeper, if nothing else because I want to track progress in the dismantling of USAID. I had not followed Mike Benz but will now. One thing you didn't note here is that Trump is moving to fold USAID into the State Department for closer oversight, and that should make clean up easier.
Thank you. Yes, there is a lot thats happening and in his plans. He wants more oversight which I think is wonderful. When I see something major come up, I'll be talking about it.
EVERYTHING in DC is political. Not a penny gets committed to anything without consideration of how it benefits the party and its members. Both parties. One's about the same as the other.
It's been interesting watching to see what people really believe when the rubber meets the road. I never thought I would live to see the dismantling of that CIA front, a front with no oversight by Congress.
Even in the face of all the facts coming out about this miserable institution, our defective citizens are clinging to the narrative that defunding usaid will starve poor people worldwide. It makes me wonder, do such people know what they're saying? Are they trying to gaslight us? What the hell, man?
I'd say that the receipts are in. And there is more to come.