By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
Washington (CNN) — A top official at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was put on leave after issuing a scathing memo blaming Trump political appointees for the US government’s inability to conduct life-saving humanitarian work.
The official warned the Trump appointees’ moves will “no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale.”
The memo from Nicholas Enrich, the acting administrator for global heath at USAID, details “obstacles” put in place by “political leadership at USAID, the Department of State, and DOGE” that have prevented USAID from implementing waivers for life-saving assistance. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly claimed he issued such waivers to exempt the assistance from a sweeping foreign aid freeze put in place in late January.
“These actions individually and in combination have resulted in the U.S. Government’s failure to implement critical lifesaving activities,” Enrich wrote in the memo dated February 28 and seen by CNN.
In his stark memo, Enrich detailed the types of activities impacted by the ongoing freeze, along with the actions taken by Trump administration appointees from January 29 through February 28 that blocked life-saving work from moving forward.
These include “emergency outbreak response activities needed to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda – the first approved global health activities under the waiver.”
“Despite receiving approval to conduct these Ebola response activities approximately 1 month ago, the implementing partners were never able to draw down funds for these life-saving activities, and have not received any funds to date,” Enrich wrote.
The statement directly rebuts a claim made by Elon Musk that Ebola prevention was “accidentally canceled” but “immediately” restored.
Enrich was put on administrative leave after issuing the memo, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
CNN has reached out to the State Department and USAID for comment.
Among the actions that led to the agency’s “failure” to implement the life-saving assistance waivers were a refusal to pay for assistance that had been conducted, blocking access to USAID payment systems, “the ever-changing guidance as to what qualifies as ‘lifesaving’ and whose approval is needed in making that decision, and most recently, the sweeping terminations of the most critical implementing mechanisms necessary for providing lifesaving services,” Enrich wrote.
In his memo, Enrich also noted that “significant staffing changes occurred within” USAID’s Global Health bureau “throughout the timeframe in question – including regularly affecting staff by terminating them without warning, turning on and off access to systems, placing and removing staff from administrative leave, etc. – severely limiting the ability to navigate and respond to the shifting guidance and bureaucratic hurdles outlined above.”
More than 90% of USAID’s foreign assistance awards were suddenly terminated last week, including for work that had previously been issued waivers, nearly a dozen officials told CNN. The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit for failing to pay nearly $2 billion for work done before the foreign assistance freeze. That suit is now in front of the Supreme Court.
The-CNN-Wire
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