The Biden administration ditched the first Trump administration's U.S. Agency for International Development vetting reforms—and went on to send "vast sums of U.S. money" to Middle Eastern countries that ended up in the hands of terrorists, a former senior USAID official told Congress on Wednesday.
Max Primorac, USAID's former acting chief operating officer, said he pushed for a stronger vetting process for grants going to countries linked to terrorism under the first Trump administration. The Biden administration ditched those processes, he said.
"I approved strong vetting policies for humanitarian assistance in countries swarming with terrorists. That, too, was ignored by the Biden administration," Primorac, now a Heritage Foundation senior research fellow, said during a Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency hearing on foreign aid. He added that "vast sums of U.S. money have been diverted to fund terrorists in Gaza, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan" and that "NGOs have been hit with heavy fines for violating our anti-terrorism financing laws."
The hearing comes as the Trump administration takes steps to dismantle USAID. In recent weeks, the administration has slashed thousands of agency employees and instituted a 90-day spending freeze, which is the subject of an ongoing court battle.
Primorac and other foreign aid experts testified that sweeping oversight and transparency problems at USAID have led to foreign funding recipients diverting U.S. taxpayer dollars to support terrorists, overseas left-wing activism, and foreign adversaries.
Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, said his group has "identified over $122 million which has ended up supporting radical organizations, or even directly bankrolling organizations which are considered to be terrorists by the U.S. government."
He testified, for example, that USAID gave a $125,000 grant to the Islamic Relief Agency, "an entity linked to al Qaeda, even after a whistleblower raised red flags." He said another organization, Helping Hand for Relief and Development, received a $78,000 grant "despite openly working with the terrorists who orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai massacre in India."
USAID money also went to Jammal Trust Bank in Lebanon, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury later designated as a sponsor of the terrorist group Hezbollah. In another example, the agency funded the Gazan charity Bayader and Unlimited Friends Association, whose officials have called for the region to be "cleansed" of the "impurity of the Jews," and which maintains close relations with Hamas leadership, according to Roman.
He said federal workers who approved such grants should be liable for criminal charges under anti-terrorism financing laws.
"This is a threat to American national security and potentially criminal, and this committee should take action to ensure that the Department of Justice acts on it, and does everything in Congress's power to not just investigate but refer criminal actions to the proper authorities," said Roman.
Beyond the terror-tied groups, billions in USAID grants have gone to "miscellaneous awardees" whose names aren’t publicly disclosed, Roman said, making it "impossible for Congress, the media, or the public, to track who's really getting the funds."
Democrats objected to the USAID cuts, saying they punish federal workers and contribute to a humanitarian crisis.
"Millions of people are at risk of dying of starvation in areas of the world where Democrats and Republicans have already agreed and committed to feeding them with American-grown food," said Rep. Greg Casar (D., Texas.). "Musk is dangerous. He's incompetent, he's chaotic, and he's killing programs that we rely on," added Rep. Robert Garcia (D., Calif.). "He's causing real harm to federal workers."