USAID: A Legacy of Waste, Corruption, & Dangerous Mismanagement

For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has operated with a stunning lack of accountability, funneling billions of taxpayer dollars into projects that range from the absurd to the outright dangerous. Despite its stated mission to promote global development and humanitarian aid, USAID has become a bloated bureaucracy that wastes American money on politically motivated pet projects, questionable foreign initiatives, and even causes that directly undermine U.S. national security. The sheer scale of reckless spending, coupled with a complete absence of oversight, makes it clear that USAID is in dire need of reform—or outright dismantlement.

Woke Ideology Masquerading as Foreign Aid

One of the most glaring abuses of USAID funds is the agency’s obsession with imposing radical social agendas on foreign nations. The agency has allocated $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities, an initiative that does nothing to serve American interests. Similarly, USAID poured $70,000 into the production of a DEI-themed musical in Ireland—because, apparently, reshaping European entertainment is now part of the agency’s foreign policy objectives.

The waste doesn’t stop there. USAID has funded a $47,000 “transgender opera” in Colombia and a $32,000 “transgender comic book” in Peru, further demonstrating the agency’s fixation on exporting fringe cultural ideologies under the guise of international development. Even more troubling, USAID has spent $2 million on “sex changes and LGBT activism” in Guatemala, despite the fact that these issues have nothing to do with poverty alleviation or economic growth.

Foreign Corruption and Supporting Adversaries

Beyond its ideological spending spree, USAID has engaged in activities that actively harm U.S. interests. The agency has pumped millions into EcoHealth Alliance—one of the organizations involved in research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese lab at the center of theories regarding the origins of COVID-19. Even after an inspector general launched an investigation, USAID continued funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to a nonprofit with ties to designated terrorist organizations—a shocking example of how little scrutiny is applied to the agency’s funding decisions.

In Syria, USAID resources were so poorly managed that hundreds of thousands of meals ended up in the hands of al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the agency spent hundreds of millions building irrigation canals, providing farming equipment, and even supplying fertilizer—much of which ultimately supported the Taliban’s booming heroin industry. In short, USAID wasn’t just wasting money in Afghanistan; it was effectively subsidizing one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organizations.

Misplaced Priorities and Unnecessary Expenditures

USAID has also lavished funds on projects that serve no conceivable benefit to the American taxpayer. The agency spent $2.5 million on electric vehicles for Vietnam, a country whose economic future is largely dictated by Chinese influence, rather than U.S. intervention. The agency also found it necessary to spend $6 million promoting tourism in Egypt, a country with an already-thriving tourism industry that certainly doesn’t require American taxpayer assistance.

Meanwhile, USAID has thrown money at so-called “personalized” birth control distribution in developing countries—an initiative that is neither essential nor justifiable under the banner of humanitarian aid. These expenditures illustrate a clear pattern: USAID is less concerned with addressing urgent humanitarian crises and more focused on funding pet projects that align with the ideological preferences of entrenched bureaucrats.

Decades of Unchecked Corruption and Failure

This rampant waste is not a new problem; it is an institutional failure that has persisted for decades. USAID has long been an unaccountable bureaucracy, allowing officials to allocate massive sums with little to no oversight. The agency’s history of mismanagement, corruption, and reckless spending proves that it is fundamentally broken. Worse, its failures often have deadly consequences—whether it be the unintentional funding of terrorist organizations or the bolstering of regimes and groups that oppose American values and security interests.

For too long, USAID has evaded scrutiny while taxpayers foot the bill for its ideological crusades and disastrous mismanagement. It’s time to bring this rogue agency under control, impose strict oversight, and demand real accountability. If USAID cannot be reformed to serve America’s interests—rather than its own misguided agenda—then it should be dismantled entirely. American taxpayers deserve better than to see their hard-earned dollars squandered on vanity projects, terrorist funding, and misguided foreign interventions.