Trump Swamp Creature Actively Destroying USAID Since July 2020

We wrote about swamp monster Pete Marocco back in July 2020 linked here.  We told you to Be Smart about him.  We wrote that Marocco previously held positions at the departments of Defense, State and Commerce under Trump and was moved to U.S.A.I.D., which manages roughly $20 billion in foreign aid each year.  Well.....

Marocco, a Trump political appointee.... is seeking to ramp up funding for programs to defend Christian minorities while shortchanging initiatives designed to help countries such as Bosnia and Ukraine survive transitions to democracy.

The effort marks a dramatic shift in priorities for USAID’s... efforts to promote peace building and conflict prevention in countries undergoing political transition.  Marocco’s effort to rewrite the bureau’s mandate and slash its overall funding not only threatens to hamstring the bureau’s operations... put USAID on a collision course with Congress....

Marocco left the Department of Defense after criticism that he created a toxic work environment by undermining and mistreating career staffers.  He would frequently go outside the chain of command to influence policy in ways that made his colleagues uncomfortable.  Classic white, male Republican.

Since taking up his post... Marocco has held up funding for scores of transitional initiatives, including a program in Ukraine aimed at countering Russian efforts to destabilize the country’s democratic government.

At the same time, he has maintained support for programs favored by the White House, including an initiative to promote peace in Colombia and a plan backed by Mike Pence to protect religious minorities, particularly Christians and Yazidis, in Iraq.

Pence turned to the bureau to invest in programs aimed at protecting religious minorities, a move that fueled controversy after the vice president’s office meddled in aid funding and grant applications to reroute money to favored organizations working to protect Christian groups in the Middle East.

Marocco has reinforced Pence’s call for greater action to protect religious minorities. He has proposed revising the mandate of a USAID program aiming at strengthening democratic institutions​....

“Stabilization and governance mean better security for the United States,” said Dave Harden, a former USAID assistant administrator and now managing director of the Georgetown Strategy Group. “These cuts put us at greater risk.”

Marocco has also expressed an interest in scaling back funding for the bureau... under pressure from the White House Office of Management and Budget to impose wide-ranging spending cuts.

Marocco placed holds on the Global Reconciliation Fund, which supports international conflict mediation, and on $5 million for programs in Myanmar and Somalia from the Women, Peace, and Security fund, which seeks to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution that promotes a larger role for women in peacemaking.

He proposed that money, including Women, Peace, and Security funding for Somalia and Myanmar, be returned to the Treasury Department, according to one official.

What a guy.....

Sources:

http://smartdissent.com/article/be-smart-about-pete-marocco-new-political-appointee-us-agency

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/02/trump-appointee-usaid-peter-marocco-slash-burn-new-bureau/