USAID is in the news as President Donald Trump has selected the agency as the first to be in the sight of the newly-created Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk. As he stated, DOGE will be engaged immediately in finding ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulation to ensure the US gets the “bang for its bucks” on programs that Make America Great Again.
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s acronym – USAID – was not serendipitous but was deliberately chosen to telescope the US’ strategy towards the rest of the world as the immediate post-war Marshall and other aid plans had ended. President John F. Kennedy created USAID using an executive order in 1961, and Congress passed the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, codifying USAID as an independent agency within the penumbra of the State Department. In announcing his plans to create USAID, President Kennedy argued to Congress that a modern, unified aid agency was essential to advance America’s moral, economic and strategic considerations in a world where totalitarianism and instability were profound threats.
Not much has changed since then in terms of the goals of USAID, even as its fortunes rose and fell during the intervening sixty odd years with the passage of new presidents and new administrators who interpreted “America’s moral, economic and strategic considerations” in an every-evolving world. In the sixties, with the Vietnam War escalating after troops were sent in 1965 to hold back the communist Vietcongs, almost 6000 USAID workers were deployed to presumably show that the US was not only concerned with “rolling back communism” but also providing an alternative to communist utopia.
The twin goals of “American security” and “local development” were always in tension and has bestowed a mixed legacy both domestically and internationally. For instance, even as its efforts to increase vaccination in Pakistan were positive, they were dulled by the role some of its employees played in tracking down Osama bin Laden. Similarly, under the rubric of increasing democratic participation in Eastern Europe, USAID financed many of the groups that engineered regime changes which favoured the west.
For us in Guyana, we know from the declassified files that it was the CIA that destabilized and eventually effectively removed the PPP government between 1962 and 1964. But we can appreciate the role of USAID to maintain the PNC in office from the June 21, 1968 memo 434. “Memorandum From Secretary of Agriculture Freeman and Administrator of the Agency for International Development Gaud to President Johnson. SUBJECT PL-480 Program with Guyana.
“We recommend that you authorize us to negotiate a PL 480 sales agreement with Guyana to provide approximately 1,500 tons of edible vegetable oil, 2,000 tons of wheat/wheat flour, 100 tons of tobacco and 3,000 tons of potatoes for which the current export market value (including applicable ocean transportation costs) is approximately $1.0 million. The proposed terms are payment in dollars of 5 percent on delivery and the balance in approximately equal instalments over 20 years; interest will be 2 percent per annum during a two-year grace period and 2.5 percent thereafter. The Departments of State and Treasury concur in this recommendation.
Need for Program: The Guyana (Burnham) Government has undertaken with help from the USAID and the British and Canadian Governments an ambitious economic development program over the past three years. We have given particular priority to assisting this government in its effort to demonstrate what a democratic government can achieve following the years of difficulties under the rule of communist-oriented Cheddi Jagan. The Burnham government is making a special effort to accelerate its development projects, particularly for agriculture, but local currency costs for development have placed a substantial strain on the Burnham government’s budget.
This agreement would assist the Burnham Government to sustain its record of economic achievement and progress, which is important at this time since national elections will be held in Guyana prior to March 31, 1969, with Jagan again opposing Burnham.”
