While Elon Musk has done everything he can to make the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) disappear based upon fabricated tales, he has yet to eliminate USAID’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). In fact, it is the OIG that may be real threat to Mr. Musk given that it initiated a review of Space’s Starlink program in Ukraine.
Back on May 14, 2024, the USAID OIG announced the following review – Inspection of USAID’s Oversight of Starlink Terminals Provided to the Government of Ukraine. The review is to determine how (1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and (2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals.
OIG’s perform a variety of reviews over high profile programs to ensure they are working as required. In this case, USAID and Starlink worked together to provide about 5,000 Starlink terminal to Ukraine during its war with Russia. A review does not mean there are problems with a program. Instead, it is simply a review to ensure all is well.
So far, while USAID has disappeared from the Internet, the USAID OIG site is still operating just fine. It should be noted that the IG at USAID has also avoided being unjustly fired by President Trump, something his peers in other agencies cannot say. So maybe things will work out.
Maybe, but when you have outlandish elimination of federal agencies based on fabricated stories, as well as the illegal firing of IGs across the government for no stated reason, I would not want to be the auditors on this team.
If this administration had any interest in improving the federal government, it would have seen the OIGs as an ally to identify fraud, waste, and abuse. That is why the OIGs were created back in the 1970s after the abuses of the Nixon Administration.
What we are seeing now is a whole different game that appears to have nothing to do with improving government. One can only wonder what fraud, waste, and abuse will occur under this administration now that the auditors have been eliminated or scared away.
Update: Well, that did not take long. On February 11, President Trump fired Paul Martin, the IG at USAID, after his office issued an audit critical of recent cuts at the agency. The audit report, Oversight of USAID-Funded Humanitarian Assistance Programming Impacted by Staffing Reductions and Pause on Foreign Assistance, concluded:
USAID OIG’s independent oversight of USAID’s humanitarian assistance programs over the years has identified significant challenges and offered recommendations to improve Agency programming to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. Our longstanding concerns about existing USAID oversight mechanisms persist. However, recent widespread staffing reductions across the Agency, particularly within BHA, coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAID’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance.
In other words, while Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did not really detect any fraud, waste, or abuse in USAID’s programs, USAID is now exposed to an increased risk of rampant fraud, waste, and abuse because DOGE illegally shuttered the agency. Are U.S. taxpayers paying attention?
Note: I saved the report below just in case it disappears in the same way all of USAID has disappeared from the Internet.
Our Awesome Universe 