If you asked the average American how much of their hard-earned tax dollars go overseas, most wouldn't know the answer. Even fewer would know who decides where that money goes. The reality is shocking: an unaccountable bureaucratic machine known as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) doles out billions of dollars with little oversight, funneling money through layers of organizations before it reaches its final destination — if it even gets there.
This is exactly why Elon Musk’s push for financial transparency is so important — and why it has Democrats in a frenzy. Musk’s efforts to expose how taxpayer money is being spent, who is benefiting and where the money is really going poses a direct threat to a system designed to be intentionally complex and opaque. With billions of dollars flowing through multiple layers of NGOs, contractors and so-called “fact-checkers” who may themselves be receiving USAID funding, the last thing the bureaucratic class wants is for ordinary Americans to follow the money.
If people could easily track where their tax dollars were going, they would demand an end to wasteful spending, bloated nonprofit CEO salaries and the unchecked power of agencies like USAID. Instead of welcoming the scrutiny, those in power are working overtime to discredit Musk and silence the conversation — because if the system were as clean as they claim, they wouldn’t be so desperate to hide it.
David Lebryk’s sudden resignation from the U.S. Treasury Department rather than working with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) raises an obvious question — what was he so afraid Musk would find? With USAID funneling billions through a tangled web of nonprofits, contractors and foreign entities, it’s hard not to suspect that Lebryk saw the writing on the wall and chose to walk away before the full extent of the waste and mismanagement was exposed.
USAID creates a web of funding designed to confuse, and it’s not just cutting checks to foreign governments — it operates through third-party contractors, nonprofit organizations and even for-profit companies that act as middlemen.
For example, in 2024:
• World Vision received $305 million from USAID.
• Catholic Relief Services got $476 million in taxpayer funds.
• Samaritan’s Purse, led by CEO Franklin Graham, publicly claims to rely on private donations. However, despite this assertion, the organization has still accepted USAID funding — albeit in a smaller proportion relative to its overall budget. As of 2019, Graham’s annual compensation was reported to be $722,403.
Once these massive sums hit the accounts of these groups, the money often gets passed through several layers of other organizations before it finally reaches an actual project. By the time it gets where it's supposed to go, who’s keeping track? No one. The complex network of subgrants, contractors and affiliates makes it nearly impossible to follow the money.
And if someone does try to track where it goes, they might just be paid by USAID themselves. Fact-checking organizations like FactCheck.org, which have publicly disputed claims about USAID spending, are funded by the Annenberg Public Policy Center — an entity housed within the University of Pennsylvania, which has received USAID funding. That’s right: the fact-checkers debunking concerns about USAID’s spending might themselves be indirectly benefiting from it.
If the goal of USAID is to provide aid, why are the executives at these “humanitarian” nonprofits getting rich off it? Some of the top executives at these organizations pull in CEO salaries that would make corporate America blush:
• David Miliband (International Rescue Committee) — $1.14 million per year
• Sean Callahan (Catholic Relief Services) — $640,000 per year
• Janti Soeripto (Save the Children) — $618,629 per year
These are nonprofits, funded largely by taxpayer dollars through USAID. Why are their executives making more money than cabinet members of the U.S. government? Why is an “aid” organization’s CEO taking home seven figures while American taxpayers struggle to put food on the table?
Here’s the real issue: Unelected bureaucrats shouldn’t decide how our money is spent. Most of these expenditures are never voted on by Congress. Instead, career bureaucrats at USAID — people we never elected — decide where billions of our dollars go, often behind closed doors. This is how we end up in situations where USAID money goes to questionable projects, gets funneled through multiple layers of nonprofits, disappears into administrative overhead, or — even worse — ends up in the hands of terrorists.
This is not how the government should work. Every single dollar of foreign aid should be appropriated directly by Congress, debated in public and approved by elected officials who can be held accountable. If Congress won’t vote for it, the money shouldn’t be spent.
USAID is a relic of a bloated bureaucracy that has outlived its usefulness. If America is going to provide foreign aid, it should be transparent, accountable and approved by elected representatives — not managed by faceless bureaucrats in Washington.
It’s time to scrap USAID entirely or, at the very least, rebuild it from the ground up with strict congressional oversight.
No more backroom deals, no more convoluted funding chains and no more massive “nonprofit” salaries on the taxpayer’s dime.
Americans deserve better.
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Chad Taylor is co-owner and publisher of The Chronicle. He can be reached at chad@chronline.com.
