United States President Donald Trump has dismissed the inspector general of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Paul Martin for criticizing his administration’s policy.
Martin was relieved of his duties from the foreign aid agency a day after his office released a report critical of the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the organization.
His dismissal letter was sent via email from the Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, stating that Martin’s position as USAID oversight official had been terminated with immediate effect.
Aside from Martin’s termination, staff from the office have also been informed that they no longer have access to their physical office space.
Although the Trump administration closed the headquarters building of USAID in Washington last week, personnel from the accountability office had still been permitted to work in person in the same building until Tuesday.
Confirming this on Wednesday, a USAID spokesperson confirmed Martin’s termination and said no reason was given for his ouster.
Under the law, the administration is required to provide 30 days’ notice to Congress before firing an investigator and provide case-specific reasons for getting rid of government watchdogs.
In a report released on Monday, the USAID office said that the Trump administration’s reduction of USAID personnel and its sweeping freeze on foreign assistance had made it more difficult to track and respond to potential misuse of $8.2 billion in US taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance.
The Trump administration has moved aggressively to dismantle USAID in recent weeks, attempting to put thousands of direct-hire USAID employees on leave and removing scores of contractors who work for the agency. Last Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked those plans and halted the accelerated removal of staffers from countries around the world.
Although Monday’s report notes that the office has long “identified significant challenges and offered recommendations to improve Agency programming to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse,” it makes clear that the slashing of USAID personnel and the foreign assistance freeze have negatively impacted efforts at oversight.
“Recent widespread staffing reductions across the Agency, coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAID’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance,” the report said.
