Government Executive: State Department Clashed With USAID Over Redesign
“While the Trump administration continues to delay the promised release of last year’s agency-submitted reorganization plans, the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development has offered a detailed portrait of how the ‘redesign’ process unfolded at both USAID and the State Department. USAID and State staffers clashed over a shared project that many employees felt lacked transparency and reliable data on promised savings, according to a recent letter the watchdog sent to three senators. … State’s team criticized many of the USAID-initiated proposals in such areas as humanitarian assistance, foreign policy, and strategic international financing because State’s decisions regarding these areas had not been finalized. In the end, six of USAID’s 21 original plans were removed, said the report to Senate Appropriations Committee members Thad Cochran, R-Miss. (since retired); Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C…” (Clark, 5/7).