The Trump administration has completed a comprehensive review of U.S. foreign aid, identifying nearly 15,000 grants worth $60 billion for elimination, many of which, according to administration officials, were linked to organizations with questionable ties to terrorism. The findings, outlined in an internal State Department memo reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, highlight longstanding concerns about the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) financial oversight and funding priorities.

The review, which covered both State Department and USAID grants, found that USAID accounted for the vast majority of the proposed cuts. Of the 15,000 grants flagged for elimination, 5,800 originated from USAID, amounting to $54 billion—representing a 92% reduction in its multi-year grant spending.

The report follows repeated allegations that USAID funds have been misallocated to groups with links to terrorism, particularly in the Middle East. In 2022, for example, USAID awarded $78,000 to the Community Development and Continuing Education Institute, a Palestinian activist group based in the West Bank. Leaders of the organization had previously praised a terrorist who murdered a U.S. military attaché as a “hero fighter.”

Even more troublingly, just days before Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, USAID approved a grant of more than $900,000 for the Bayader Association for Environment and Development, a Gaza-based group with reported links to Hamas leadership. The organization was said to be in “close cooperation with the Hamas regime,” yet received U.S. taxpayer funds under the Biden administration’s aid policies.

A broader pattern has emerged of USAID supporting organizations that, while ostensibly engaged in humanitarian work, have affiliations with terror groups. Watchdog groups and congressional oversight bodies have warned for years about systemic failures in vetting USAID’s grant recipients. An inspector general report from 2023 found that USAID had failed to prevent the diversion of aid to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, raising concerns about weak safeguards in the agency’s grant approval process.

While USAID has historically been a key tool of U.S. diplomacy, its funding practices have drawn bipartisan criticism. In recent years, it has supported initiatives tied to progressive social policies, such as climate activism and alternative lifestyle development programs. The Biden administration’s 2022-2030 climate strategy allocated $150 billion to global environmental projects, some of which had little or no direct connection to U.S. strategic interests.

USAID also played a role in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives abroad. In 2023, for instance, the agency allocated up to $1 million to support disabled individuals in Tajikistan as “climate leaders,” while another grant helped fund Indigenous language programs in Guatemala, despite Spanish being spoken by 95% of the population.

As the fight over USAID’s future unfolds, the State Department’s internal memo makes clear that foreign assistance will undergo fundamental reforms. “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safe? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” the memo reads.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)