The now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been accused of funneling at least $122 million in taxpayer funds to aid organizations linked to terrorist groups, according to a recent congressional hearing and investigative findings by the Middle East Forum (MEF).
The hearing, led by the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), highlighted long-standing concerns over USAID’s lack of oversight and financial ties to groups associated with Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda-affiliated organizations.
A Pattern of Misuse
Among the most egregious examples cited in the hearing was a $125,000 sub-grant in 2014 from the evangelical charity World Vision to Islamic Relief Agency, a Sudanese organization tied to Osama bin Laden. This transaction was approved by the Obama administration, despite the Treasury Department’s prior designation of Islamic Relief as a terror-financing organization.
World Vision has since received $2 billion in grants from USAID since 2008, including $200 million last year alone, raising concerns over the vetting process for aid recipients. The charity denied knowledge of the recipient’s terrorist ties when questioned in 2018.
Similarly, Helping Hand for Relief and Development was awarded a $78,000 USAID grant in 2023, even though the agency’s own inspector general had launched an investigation into a previous grant. The group was found to have ties to Pakistan’s Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, a terrorist organization involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Helping Hand is also affiliated with the Unlimited Friends Association, a Hamas-linked group that promotes violent antisemitism.
Another Hamas-connected organization, Bayader Association for Environment and Development, received a USAID grant on October 1, 2023—just days before Hamas carried out its October 7 attack on Israel. The group has previously hosted senior Hamas officials, including the son of the late Ismail Haniyeh, the mastermind of the massacre.
Congressional Investigation and Calls for Reform
Speaking before the committee, Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, condemned USAID’s history of reckless spending.
“There’s a fox loose in the henhouse of our foreign aid system—a system intended to uplift lives abroad that instead has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to radical and terrorist-linked organizations,” Roman testified.
He urged lawmakers to mandate full transparency for foreign and domestic charities receiving federal grants and suggested the subcommittee file a criminal referral to the Department of Justice (DOJ) against USAID for failing to prevent taxpayer money from reaching terrorist entities.
Roman emphasized that USAID’s failures are a national security threat, particularly under the Obama and Biden administrations, which he accused of insulating a bloated and unaccountable bureaucracy.
Stonewalling and Legal Battles
The MEF has faced significant resistance in obtaining public records from USAID. Roman detailed how his organization had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2023 concerning funds directed to the Unlimited Friends Association in Gaza, a Hamas-affiliated group.
“Since that FOIA, our near-monthly regular check-ins with USAID FOIA officers have led only to imposed additional delays,” Roman told National Review. “The government’s most recent promised deadline to provide a response, set for early February, was once again ignored by USAID officials.”
Meanwhile, DOGE’s efforts to halt USAID’s foreign aid spending have sparked legal challenges. On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to resume payments by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m., forcing the government to process nearly $2 billion in pending grants in a matter of days. The administration has since requested a stay on the order.
USAID’s Future in Question
With USAID now shut down, reports suggest its responsibilities may be transferred to the State Department, especially after Secretary of State Marco Rubio was appointed its acting administrator. Critics argue that merging USAID with the State Department could lead to better oversight and accountability.
Roman believes defunding USAID is a crucial step in dismantling radical Islamist funding networks.
“Within our limited scope focused on the defunding of international Islamism and its enablers,” Roman said, “the collapse of USAID funding will come as a major blow to multiple Islamist ideological movements across the globe.”
