Since April 2008, USAID has paid a Washington, D.C., accounting firm at least $1.9 million for audits and financial services related to the agency’s Cuba program. Budget records show four payments: $169,000 paid on April 15, 2008. $831,000 paid on July 28, 2008. $300,000 paid on April 12, 2010. $600,000 paid on July 27, 2010, [...]
Cuba expert: USAID put American in “predictable danger”
Phil Peters, a former State Department official, called for an end on Wednesday to “high-cost, low-impact Bush-era” USAID programs that put American contract worker Alan Gross in “predictable danger.” Peters, who writes a blog called the Cuban Triangle, said Gross faced an impossible mission: “to evade a communist intelligence apparatus” that spreads across the island, [...]
Agency chief: USAID’s mission reflects American values
Rajiv Shah, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, urged lawmakers on Wednesday not to slash the agency’s budget. He described reforms that he said would increase USAID’s efficiency, engage private enterprise and harness new technologies. Shah said: Delivering foreign assistance through these innovative approaches will lead to dramatic, meaningful gains in human [...]