These are all big, multibillion-dollar programs that do massive amounts of good around the world, but much of what AID does involves small programs that have just one or two people on the ground in sometimes politically unstable places in the world — and those people may be the ones in particular danger as AID is getting sliced up — or sliced off.
In the summer of 1996, I was one of them.
After spending a year as the U.S. Information Agency’s Journalist-in-Residence in Russia, I accepted an offer to run an AID grant program in Albania. Much as I did in Russia, I would be working with independent newspapers to establish and maintain a free press in this mountainous Balkan country — which at the time had no functioning government.
I arrived in Tirana, armed with a briefcase full of briefing papers, the address of a boarding house where a room was reserved for me and contact information for a press organization that would have an office (of sorts!) waiting for me. All this was provided by my AID “handler” who recruited me, prepped me and promised to stand ready if I needed her at any time during the next eight weeks.
I was the entire AID Press Freedom program in Albania — funded by a nongovernmental organization operating out of a prestigious university in the United States — and my AID handler was my only link to home. After a year in Russia, I knew what I was getting into with struggling newspapers trying to survive against oppressive odds. I had my Mac PowerBook and PageMaker software (on 12 floppy disks!) and some proven strategies to offer.
What I wasn’t prepared for was a country run by gangs who stopped drivers to collect “fines” on the spot and raided coffee houses on a whim. On top of that, Serbia and Bosnia were waging a hot war only a hundred kilometers away.
But I had my handler, my lifeline to the real world whom I could reach via email as long as electricity was relatively stable (No cellphones in 1996!). She was able to finagle a box fan for my hot, stuffy room and had a courier deliver my return airline ticket two weeks before I was scheduled to leave.
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Tirana had a U.S. consulate, but it had been minimally staffed since the war began, and I had been reminded that I was a government contractor — not a State Department employee. I had no more claim on the consulate staff than any other American citizen.
Just as I was wrapping up my two-month assignment, the State Department ordered all Americans out of Albania. The war had come too close. We could hear explosions and gunfire in Tirana.
My handler shifted into high gear. From her desk in Washington, D.C., she found me transport to the Quonset hut that served as the international airport, and I, unlike all those other Americans trying to get out, had a ticket! I towed my bags around the building, jammed with nervous evacuees, onto the tarmac to the waiting Austrian Airlines 737 and climbed on.
But what if that link to home had been severed? What if my emails went unanswered? My circumstances were harrowing but hardly life-threatening. But at this moment, AID has hundreds, maybe thousands, of grantees running one-person shops in places more perilous than Tirana (Think of those setting up water-filtration systems in the Sudan or teaching teachers in Mozambique).
Did the frantic phone calls and emails to their AID handlers go unanswered when all AID employees were ordered to stay home on Monday or put on leave on Wednesday? Can they find safety if — overnight — AID no longer exists? Does anyone even care that they’re there?
Perhaps they are the unintended casualties of a reckless political act — victims of (not so) friendly fire.
Michelle Carter, former managing editor of The San Mateo Times, is the author of “From Under the Russian Snow” (2017, Bedazzled Ink)
The many ambassadors like Micki Carter who spread goodwill around the world on behalf of the U.S. are now silenced, and our international reputation will suffer because of it.
Terry - they are not silenced. All such efforts will be scrutinized for ensuring they are in our best interest. Pushing DEI and transgender issues is not in our best interest and neither are these countless, undefined pet projects that our legislators facilitate and are the beneficiaries of direct or indirect kick backs. I venture that Ms. Carter's like activities will continue. You may sing a different tune once the USAID audit report is made public.
Dirk - Terry Nagel is an ideologue and does not have the ability to process facts and make decisions based on the facts. She / he has no problem with the Biden's administration effect on our international reputation, which proves her / his bias
I don't believe the Trump administration is going to shut down the entire department. It will need a scrubbing to ensure that our tax money is spent well. This organization is so entrenched that even Musk may not be able to clean it up. Ms. Carter is addressing an issue that makes me wonder why we were there to begin with. Is it really the role of the USA to protect the rest of the world or enforce our so-called democratic principles that have been tainted with extreme woke programs? If one were to have an opportunity to visit the site of the US Embassy compound in El Salvador, one can't help but notice that the largest multistory building, behind very high walls, is housing the USAID activities. What in the world does that activity entail over there? Clearly more than handing out bags of food. Americans have no idea what our Dept. of State, including USAID, is concocting outside our borders. Don't let these duplicitous or ignorant politicians, headed up by Schumer, tell you otherwise.
Thanks for your letter, Ms. Carter, detailing your experience with USAID. Unfortunately, in the years since 1996, it seems USAID has become a (more of a) money laundering organization that serves masters other than American taxpayers or American interests. As Elon Musk and his “kids” have exposed and will continue to expose. It should be noted that from reporting, critical USAID supporting humanitarian efforts have not been cut off so may potentially be unaffected. Programs such as the one you worked on may be affected since USAID is connected with many media sources supporting non-American interests.
People on the left side of the aisle continue to bellyache about how tariffs may bring about high prices yet they conveniently ignore the valuable work Trump and Musk are doing in bringing transparency to the American people. I hope they continue to audit as many federal programs as possible to expose waste and fraud. Money saved may make tariff prices, if they do rise, more palatable because more money is still in their wallets.
Reckless, irresponsible, ignorant, and arrogant. I am alarmed and anxious about what may be happening to the committed AID workers. Thank you forvthisvarticle and your service to our country.
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(7) comments
The many ambassadors like Micki Carter who spread goodwill around the world on behalf of the U.S. are now silenced, and our international reputation will suffer because of it.
Terry - they are not silenced. All such efforts will be scrutinized for ensuring they are in our best interest. Pushing DEI and transgender issues is not in our best interest and neither are these countless, undefined pet projects that our legislators facilitate and are the beneficiaries of direct or indirect kick backs. I venture that Ms. Carter's like activities will continue. You may sing a different tune once the USAID audit report is made public.
Dirk - Terry Nagel is an ideologue and does not have the ability to process facts and make decisions based on the facts. She / he has no problem with the Biden's administration effect on our international reputation, which proves her / his bias
I don't believe the Trump administration is going to shut down the entire department. It will need a scrubbing to ensure that our tax money is spent well. This organization is so entrenched that even Musk may not be able to clean it up. Ms. Carter is addressing an issue that makes me wonder why we were there to begin with. Is it really the role of the USA to protect the rest of the world or enforce our so-called democratic principles that have been tainted with extreme woke programs? If one were to have an opportunity to visit the site of the US Embassy compound in El Salvador, one can't help but notice that the largest multistory building, behind very high walls, is housing the USAID activities. What in the world does that activity entail over there? Clearly more than handing out bags of food. Americans have no idea what our Dept. of State, including USAID, is concocting outside our borders. Don't let these duplicitous or ignorant politicians, headed up by Schumer, tell you otherwise.
Thanks for your letter, Ms. Carter, detailing your experience with USAID. Unfortunately, in the years since 1996, it seems USAID has become a (more of a) money laundering organization that serves masters other than American taxpayers or American interests. As Elon Musk and his “kids” have exposed and will continue to expose. It should be noted that from reporting, critical USAID supporting humanitarian efforts have not been cut off so may potentially be unaffected. Programs such as the one you worked on may be affected since USAID is connected with many media sources supporting non-American interests.
People on the left side of the aisle continue to bellyache about how tariffs may bring about high prices yet they conveniently ignore the valuable work Trump and Musk are doing in bringing transparency to the American people. I hope they continue to audit as many federal programs as possible to expose waste and fraud. Money saved may make tariff prices, if they do rise, more palatable because more money is still in their wallets.
Reckless, irresponsible, ignorant, and arrogant. I am alarmed and anxious about what may be happening to the committed AID workers. Thank you forvthisvarticle and your service to our country.
A shot in the foot felt around the world
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