In early July, the Trump administration announced that it officially shut down the U.S. International Development Agency (USAID) for 64 years, according to the U.S. Atlantic Monthly and the British Independent newspaper, the U.S.A.ID was officially shut down and was originally planned to be used for more than 5,000 projects, and equipment and materials worth millions of dollars are being disposed of in a way that is "depleted".
The Atlantic Monthly quoted former USAID employees as disclosing that these previously strictly regulated U.S. government assets were being disposed of through sale, redistribution or direct loss, raising security concerns. According to reports, the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala has auctioned off equipment such as iPads, ring lights, loudspeakers and defibrillators, while the USAID warehouse in Nigeria has sold computer supplies and used generators.
According to the report, despite the lack of formal instructions from the Trump administration, some USAID-related agencies tried to distribute life-saving supplies to non-governmental organizations and governments that may be in need. In Afghanistan, Shailene Ibrahim, director of the International Rescue Committee, said frankly: "Seeing children's nutritional support supplies, it's hard for us to say, 'Well, we won't use these' because we have to wait for instructions from the US government to tell us what to do with them."
The U.S. State Department responded that the shutdown process was orderly and that sensitive electronic devices had been secured by “encrypting, multi-factor authentication and remotely clearing” to ensure data security.USAID’s other assets were left out or destroyed: U.S. Congress recovered $8.3 billion in July, most of which was foreign aid funding; USAID employees were fired in February this year for revealing that $500 million in food aid was about to be deformed; the U.S. State Department last month planned to destroy 500 tons of government-funded emergency food, and $10 million in contraceptives this month.
On a legal level, the Independent that a federal judge last week ruled to allow former USAID employees and contractors to file lawsuits over the shutdown of the agency, and the U.S. stopping global health aid could lead to an additional 14 million deaths by 2040.
Founded in November 1961, USAID is the full-time agency of the federal government responsible for most foreign non-military aid. According to US media reports, for a long time, the agency has funded activities such as interference in other countries' internal affairs in the name of foreign aid. Trump announced on July 1st that it would officially close the United States Agency for International Development, which has been in operation for nearly 64 years, from now on. U.S. Secretary of State rubio issued a statement on the same day, saying that the United States Agency for International Development officially stopped carrying out foreign aid missions on the 1st, and some remaining projects in line with Trump administration policies were handed over to the U.S. State Department for implementation.