Here are some extracts from a DOGE subcommittee showing how USAID finances Islamic terrorism. There is no reason to participate in war, and we can end it just by cutting finance to those who start it.
[from page 7]
STATEMENT OF GREGG ROMAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MIDDLE EAST FORUM
Mr. ROMAN. Madam Chairman, Ranking Member, and distin-
guished Members of this Committee, thank you for the opportunity
to speak today. My name is Gregg Roman, Director of the Middle
East Forum, and I am here because there is a fox loose in the hen-
house 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. If we do not fix these
fences now, we risk fueling violence against our allies, our troops,
and potentially ourselves.
Let me be clear: this is a problem that began under the Obama
Administration and was exacerbated under the Biden Administra-
tion. It is a problem that has been brewing across both of these 12
years of governance by a bureaucracy so insulated, it cannot al-
ways tell teachers from terrorists. The result is moral confusion
among grant officers who unwittingly, and in some cases, may in-
tentionally, bankroll extremist causes.
At the Middle East Forum for the last 12 years, we have engaged
in oversight overall public spending relating to foreign aid, specifi-
cally those relating to Middle East and Islamist causes. And we
have identified over $122 million, which has ended up supporting
radical organizations or even directly bankrolling organizations,
which are considered to be terrorists by the U.S. Government. That
is not pocket change. That is a jackpot for the wrong crowd.
Terms of our specific findings. World Vision: Over the past 2 dec-
ades, this major evangelical NGO has received nearly $2 billion
from USAID, but in 2014, World Vision facilitated a $125,000 grant
to the Islamic Relief Agency, an entity linked to Al-Qaeda. Even
after a whistleblower raised red flags, USAID rammed through the
funding pressured by World Vision, Sudanese warlords, and even
U.S. officials who lobbied to delist the terror organization.
Helping Hand Relief and Development: In 2023, only 2 years ago,
it received a $78,000 grant from USAID, despite openly working
with the terrorists who orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai Massacre in
India. Worse, the offer and grant came after the USAID Inspector
General launched an investigation into a prior grant to the same
group.
The Jammal Trust Bank in Lebanon: The USAID dollars help
pad the pockets of this financial institution, later designated by the
U.S. Treasury Department as a terrorist sponsor for sponsoring
Hezbollah. This was no mere oversight. It points to a broken sys-
tem that handed cash to a future terror-financing entity.
[Poster]
Mr. ROMAN. Some graphical evidence, behind me you will see the
Bayader and Unlimited Friends Association, two groups in Gaza:
8
members of the Gazan Charity, Bayader, cozy up the senior mem-
bers of the Hamas Politburo, like Abdul Salam Haniyeh, the son
of slaughtered Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, credited as one of
the planners of the October 7 attacks on Israel, which killed
Israelis and American citizens. Meanwhile, UFA officials have
called for their lands to be cleansed from the so-called, ‘‘impurity
of the Jews.’’
You will see behind me four images which do not just show mem-
bers of Bayader and UFA associating with members of Hamas, but
also USAID officials, employees of the U.S. Government, receiving
awards because of their cooperation with these two Hamas-linked
entities. You even have a Facebook post from a few years ago,
which is the USAID office in Jerusalem, celebrating their relation-
ship with a Hamas entity. I cannot find anything more disgusting,
and as the Ranking Member said, we are looking for evidence. This
is not a conspiracy. This is a U.S. Government communication.
Last, masking the money trail: Billions of dollars in USAID
grants are lumped under miscellaneous foreign awardees, making
it impossible for Congress, the media, or the public to track who
is really getting the funds. According to public testimony in an-
other hearing in this Congress, a portion of this money has ended
up in the hands of Al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria. How does this hap-
pen? The oversight conducted by USAID is as weak as a house of
cards in a windstorm, like handing out cash in a dark alley and
hoping it does not buy trouble. USAID’s vetting system is archaic,
relying heavily on self-reported data with no real-time checks or
teeth. Primary grantees are entrusted to vet their own subcontrac-
tors, even when those grantees themselves might sympathize with
radical causes.
In places like Gaza or Sudan, groups with blatant extremist af-
filiations slip through because the so-called gatekeepers have no in-
centive or even an ideological desire to shut them out. This is not
a glitch. It is a feature of a broken system, and here is the kicker—
it is a problem caused by bureaucrats now threatening American
interests at home and abroad. It is not just about fraud, waste, and
abuse. This is a threat to American national security and poten-
tially criminal, and this Committee should take action to ensure
that the Department of Justice acts on it and does everything it
can in Congress’ power to not just investigate, but refer criminal
actions to the proper authorities. Thank you.
[from page 22]
Mr. BURCHETT. Thank you, Chairlady. Mr. Roman, are you
aware that we are sending $40 million a week to the Taliban?
Mr. ROMAN. Yes, sir.
22
Mr. BURCHETT. Can you name other instances of foreign aid
going to terrorist organizations?
Mr. ROMAN. We have assisted Al-Shabaab in Somalia. There
have been instances of the Hamzi network in Sudan, Hamas, Is-
lamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Taiba, Hezbollah, Hay’at Tahrir al-Shams
in Syria, dozens of terror organizations have received indirect as-
sistance from U.S. foreign aid.
Mr. BURCHETT. Could you elaborate a little bit on the mecha-
nisms in place that are to stop foreign aid from going to terrorist
groups and why are they not working, if we have any in place?
Mr. ROMAN. Sure.
[Poster]
Mr. BURCHETT. And I would note that you notice these are ter-
rorist weaponry. You see some AKs, SKSs, some snipers, some
clips, some clip carriers probably made in China, and I believe
these are small land mines beside right there.
Mr. ROMAN. Let us use Gaza as our case study: $2.1 billion in
American taxpayers money to Gaza since October 7 when Hamas
invaded Southern Israel. USAID money was going in terms of an
emergency-use authorization to try to go to parties that USAID for-
merly had a relationship with in the Gaza Strip. They had to have
been vetted by OFAC. They should have been vetted against the
special designated terrorists from the State Department and from
other Treasury organizations. Waivers were granted because they
said that there was an emergency-use to have that money come in
to Gaza, thereby jettisoning the usual, typical screening proce-
dures. As a result, 90 percent of aid that was going from the
United States by way of its agents in Gaza ended up in Hamas-
controlled areas, and this is ridiculous.
Essentially, what the U.S. assistance to Gaza did was underwrite
the ability for Hamas to survive until the cease-fire was just passed
a few weeks ago. There was no strategic thought for it, and there
was no screening.
Mr. BURCHETT. Seems like the emergency might have been
armed terrorists to kill civilians. Would that be accurate?
Mr. ROMAN. That is accurate, and even more than that,
Samantha Powers, the Administrator for USAID, was intent on
having Israel not be able to defend itself.
Mr. BURCHETT. To not be able to defend.
Mr. ROMAN. Correct.
Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Primorac, is that correct? How do you say
that? Primorac. I got ‘‘Burchett,’’ man. Nobody gets mine right, so
do not worry about it. What is it, Primorac?
Mr. PRIMORAC. Perfect.
Mr. BURCHETT. All right. Thanks, brother. How did terrorists ex-
ploit our foreign aid loopholes?
Mr. PRIMORAC. Well, we have a lot of our international——
Mr. BURCHETT. Can you pull your mic up? I am sorry.
Mr. PRIMORAC. Can you hear me?
Mr. BURCHETT. Yes, sir.
Mr. PRIMORAC. You have international NGOs and U.N. agencies
actively lobby here in Washington, DC, against vetting policies that
would prevent it. I was the senior vetting officer at USAID, and
what we did——
23
Mr. BURCHETT. Hold on a second. Did you say United Nations is
doing this? The U.N.?
Mr. PRIMORAC. Sure. Everybody that is getting money, lobbies
here.
Mr. BURCHETT. That they are lobbying against us. I am sorry,
Mr. Roman, you are——
Mr. ROMAN. There is actually someone who used to work for one
of those lobbies, the largest NGO lobby interaction, one of our co-
witnesses here worked for them from 2018 to 2023. USAID effec-
tively self-funds its own external private lobby that then goes back
to Congress and asks for more money for USAID.
Mr. BURCHETT. So, the taxpayers fund this lobbyist who is work-
ing against American interests?
Mr. ROMAN. Correct.
Mr. BURCHETT. Possibly killing our allies and possibly Ameri-
cans?
Mr. ROMAN. They bring together groups in Washington that over-
sees work with groups that kill Americans.
Mr. BURCHETT. Yes, I do not need a flow chart to show that. I
appreciate it. Do you think USAID programs have been aligned
with the national security interest of the U.S.?
Mr. PRIMORAC. No, they have not. They have actually helped
China.
Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Roman?
Mr. ROMAN. No.
Mr. BURCHETT. OK. How do these programs compromise our na-
tional security, Mr. Primorac?
Mr. PRIMORAC. They actually push much of the world toward
China on the green energy agenda. They push ordinary people, bil-
lions of people, toward China because of the resentment caused by
our social re-engineering.
Mr. BURCHETT. Are we being lobbied by these pro-communist
China groups currently?
Mr. PRIMORAC. Well, a lot of these countries do not even have to
lobby because they get the money anyway, like South Africa.
Mr. ROMAN. Yes, and, in fact, these lobbyists have come to the
House and have tried to kill legislation, like H.R. 160, which was
meant to increase transparency in USAID’s funding of overseas or-
ganizations.
Mr. BURCHETT. Is that a current piece of legislation?
Mr. ROMAN. That is from the last session.
Mr. BURCHETT. Last. And give me that number again?
Mr. ROMAN. H.R. 160.
Mr. BURCHETT. And what does it do?
Mr. ROMAN. It was meant to give U.S. lawmakers the ability to
have higher transparency and terror financing investigations aimed
at scrutinizing extremist groups.
[page 33]
We have seen USAID give $12.5 million just last year to the Amer-
ican Near East Refugee Agency, whose staff openly called for vio-
lence against Jews. The Refugee Agency also funded projects of the
Unlimited Friends Association, which is a proxy organization for
Hamas. This is not advancing our strategic interests abroad and
these are not promoting American values.
