On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump ordered that nearly all foreign aid be frozen. Days later, a thousand USAID workers were either laid off or suspended from duty altogether. The move has shocked many across the American political establishment, but also revived a pressing debate on America’s use of development agencies as a front for its imperialistic interests abroad.

While Democratic lawmakers protested Trump and Musk’s war against the agency, they inadvertently drew attention to the fact that USAID is a trojan horse for America’s aggressive foreign policies and regime change ambitions around the world. 

USAID Establishment

In November 1961, the U.S. government established the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), designed to succeed the previous U.S. International Cooperation Administration (ICA). USAID was created under President John F. Kennedy to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War. 

With the Cold War in full-swing and the Soviet-American conflict becoming more and more centered around exertion of soft power, espionage, and other forms of influence outside of outright war or military means, the U.S. sought to reorganize its existing infrastructure to better adapt to the rapidly changing global situation.

Throughout the Cold War, USAID was the channel through which the United States allocated funds for certain countries, armed militant factions, and supported several destabilizing forces across the world. 

Funding of Opposition Groups in Cuba and Venezuela

This continued after the Cold War. It was seen in Cuba where the U.S., through USAID, established and financed a social network – also known as Cuban Twitter – aimed at creating dissidence among Cuban society. Under the name “ZunZuneo,” the media network initially featured non-controversial content and entertainment for the Cuban masses. USAID explained that it was meant to create a space for “Cubans to speak freely among themselves.”

Once it attracted a large audience, however, ZunZuneo shifted to political content, convincing Cubans, especially the young adults, to gather and form “smart mobs” to trigger large-scale protests in Cuba. The plan was to trigger a Cuban Spring as part of U.S. efforts to undermine Cuba’s communist government by influencing public opinion.

In Venezuela, USAID was involved in funding opposition groups in 2005 and 2007, and then again in recent years of unrest in the country. USAID funded and trained opposition groups and student movements aimed at subverting Venezuela’s elections – a prime example of a colored revolution.

USAID-funded Initiatives

In 1990, when the United Nations Security Council held a vote on the authorization of the use of force against Iraq, Yemen voted against the resolution. After the vote, then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Thomas Pickering told the Yemeni ambassador, “That was the most expensive No vote you ever cast.” Immediately after, USAID ceased all funding and operations in Yemen.

More recently, a former State Department official revealed that USAID was involved in funding opposition groups before and during last year’s student demonstrations against the government of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. The former official revealed that the government’s opposition to American pressure to establish a U.S. base in the region caused the escalation in funding and involvement in the Bengali political scene.

Geopolitical analyst Kevork Almassian reported in a recent video that USAID-funded initiatives were frequently deployed alongside CIA assets in numerous countries across the Global South. This ranged across Latin America to the Middle East, all for the sake of spurring regime change and exerting pressure on existing governments to align with America’s geopolitical interests.

USAID Operations in Syria

Syria is no exception to this trend. In fact, it is one of the most prominent victims of America’s use of USAID as a funding arm for extremists organizations in its efforts to topple the Assad government. In 2014, former British military officer James Le Mesurier co-founded the “Syrian Civil Defence,” better known as the “White Helmets.” 

The White Helmets, in short, serve as the “public relations” arm of the foreign-sponsored Syrian opposition and aligned militants, particularly groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda. A plethora of photographic evidence has surfaced tying their officials to figures openly in extremist groups. While their claimed objectives include aid to civilians throughout conflict zones, the reality is far from it.

USAID has funneled tens of millions of dollars to the White Helmets throughout the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. One report numbers this amount to be over $63 million. This is while the connection between the White Helmets and Salafi and Wahhabi extremist militants is a well documented reality.

Similar to Cuba, Venezuela, Bangladesh, and numerous other countries, Syria before the rise of former al-Qaeda member Abu Mohammad al-Jolani was a nation that resisted American imperialist agendas. It refused to align with American “strategic interests” and sell out its sovereignty, but it ultimately paid the price. 

Development or Intelligence?

Trump’s controversial move to immobilize USAID has brought the agency’s activities under close scrutiny. While people have long protested the U.S. government’s imperialistic agendas abroad through agencies like the CIA, many Americans are unaware that much of U.S. funding for opposition groups and regime change operations were carried out through USAID. 

This is while USAID is designated as a development agency, not an intelligence agency. Given its history of meddling in other countries’ politics, however, many foreign governments are now calling USAID out for what it truly is: a front for the CIA.