One of the focuses of trump's misguided and heavy handed destruction has been USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. As reported by Reuters yesterday:
Just hours after taking office on Jan. 20, Trump ordered a 90-day pause so foreign aid contributions could be reviewed to see if they align with his "America First" foreign policy. The U.S. is the world's largest aid donor.
The State Department then issued a "stop work" order on Friday for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, sparking a steady stream of individual notices to aid groups and U.N. agencies telling them to halt specific programs.
Is the past couple of days Elon Musk has sent in some college kids to take over its computer systems. When USAID security officials protested that they did not have the authority to do so and were compromising classified material, and attempted to stop them, those officials were sent home on leave. As non-government workers, without any security clearance, I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate that the actions by those Musk minions were highly illegal. Not to mention that any other civilian or US military person who did such a thing would be thrown in prison for a long time.
Elon Musk is now calling USAID a "criminal organization" that is "beyond repair." And he brags about "feeding it through the wood chipper" - in other words, violently destroying it.
My close friend has spent their career working in the field of public health, for various organizations. While some of these organizations receive private funding and develop their own projects, all of them have also received funding from and worked on a wide variety of humanitarian aid projects hand in hand with USAID.
Yesterday my friend and their colleagues learned how one of the organizations they previously worked for, who for the past many decades relied primarily on USAID funding to develop and implement projects that benefited infants and mothers, basically ceased to exist overnight due to the sudden loss of USAID funding. Many, many other aid organizations, operating in the US and overseas, are now suffering the same fate.
Today they all learned how hundreds of their colleagues, who worked tirelessly for years or decades at USAID, all lost their jobs overnight. And dozens of senior USAID officials who are not seen as sufficiently loyal to trump were put on leave.
One of those long-time USAID colleagues, who just lost their job, wrote this incredible letter about the actual, real-life, disastrous effects of cutting foreign aid. US foreign aid, as they expertly and movingly explain below, does not only benefit the millions of recipients with their wide range of needs, it is also integral to the long-term safety and security of the United States - as even Republicans in Congress begrudgingly understood for the past 60 years. Up until trump.
Here is the letter written by a now-former USAID worker:
Trump issued a stop work order on Friday for foreign assistance. Thanks to him, I am now out of a job after years of dedicated service along with risk to thousands of colleagues in international aid. But this is not just my own personal tragedy.
Foreign aid has been a foundation of fostering peace and security for the United States for more than 60 years. Development works alongside two complimentary pillars - Defense and Diplomacy.
Defense is a hammer. It is no doubt effective, but costly to Americans (both financially and in lives lost). It is blunt and indiscriminate and it sends one message. Fear and intimidation can work, but not for long, and there are limits to its reach.
Diplomacy is a firm handshake. It has laser precision and can be effective in more delicate and complex matters. It takes time however, and is only realized at the highest levels of power.
Development (or foreign aid) is a bandage to those that are hurt, food for those who are hungry, training for those who want to learn, medicine for those that are sick.
It builds more good will and allies for America than anything else this country has ever done.
This is not only the humane thing for our country to invest in and prioritize but it most certainly helps keep our country safe. Where do you think extremism is born but in places of injustice, poverty and pain? Building allies through development has a more lasting result for our peace and security than anything we do.
Good will is passed through communities and across generations. If not, America's rivals like China, Russia, and other extreme groups sweep in and curry favor. Without allies, and with other countries who hate America gaining support and spreading propaganda, plus a notable unequal balance of global wealth in favor of the US, enemies are easily created and terrorism can flourish. We could see more attacks on our country, our service people, our international staff. From there, wars are launched - sending more and more American soldiers to die on the other side of the world.
Foreign aid has always had bipartisan support for this very reason.
It also opens up markets for U.S. products and services. All of this good will and strategic partnership costs less than 1% of the GDP.
Oh and it saves lives, 100s of millions of lives, around the world. But not today. Last week trump stopped foreign aid completely. Grinding this work to a halt is catastrophic.
Make no mistake - MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WILL DIE.
For every hour that aid is not functioning HIV patients are not receiving lifesaving medications, children are not getting malaria treatment, polio flourishes as do new and mutated diseases, mothers are unable to access safe labor facilities, girls cannot get reproductive health services to avoid teen pregnancy or child marriage, peace building cannot take place to avoid genocide, food cannot be delivered, and on and on.
It is positively inhumane, unprecedented, unnecessary, and extremely dangerous. Millions upon millions of people will suffer and die without foreign aid. For instance, at least 20 million people will not receive lifesaving antiretroviral therapies. We will soon have a global crisis on our hands and we will reverse the progress that has been made for years to come. We will also be in a much more precarious place in the world.
Development also employs hundreds of thousands of employees around the world. You may want to “drain the swamp” but I work(ed) alongside people here in DC and around the world that have tirelessly given their time, comfort, and personal safety to help those in need - the voiceless, the young, the vulnerable. Some international colleagues are the only employed family member and also support multiple extended family members with their salaries. This decision will upend families, livelihoods, health benefits, children’s education and more. These are people that I know personally. Who I have hugged and promised that I will work for. Small locally based organizations will have to fold, removing support for their communities. The ripple effects are horrific.
This is our passion and mission in life. We have dedicated our lives to helping others and have been told - that is not America’s priority anymore. It puts food on our table and keeps our family insured, clothed and safe. In one day I was tossed aside.
I was damn good at my job and I know that I made a difference in people’s lives. Now I need to be escorted by security to collect my things. I’ve been told that my years of service have no worth, that altruism, devotion, and love for thy neighbor are no longer American values.
I would never presume to tell any of you how your profession works - whether you are a teacher, nurse, work a trade, work with animals, farm, own your own business, work in the food industry, etc. But I have 25 years in this work and know what I’m talking about. You may hear sound bytes or read skewed political scare pieces about the laziness of government, but you can’t possibly know how this really works and how many lives will be ruined. I would never say that the system is perfect - but stopping it is reckless, cruel, and puts us at incredible risk. Regardless of your vote, you can still agree that this is wrong, and call your senator to demand foreign aid be returned.
Please contact Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Secretary@state.gov) and your representatives in Congress to demand they keep foreign aid funded.