Mast, who became the top foreign policy House Republican at the start of the 119th Congress, told the Washington Examiner that USAID Inspector General Paul Martin, appointed by former President Joe Biden, exposed “the web of unaccountability at USAID that Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have called out for years.”

“Any entity giving out taxpayer dollars abroad should, at the very least, require its recipients and their contractors to disclose any ties to terrorists or corrupt oligarchs America has sanctioned,” Mast said Thursday.

USAID was placed under the political spotlight as the first federal government department or agency that Trump and Musk upended through the Department of Government Efficiency. Democrats have expressed concern about the foreign policy consequences of shutting down USAID as China increases its foreign aid and Musk’s demonstrates the power to override congressionally appropriated funds for the agency’s programs.

The White House has supported Musk throughout the process, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt describing a list of USAID projects as “crap” that taxpayers shouldn’t be funding.

On Thursday, Mast, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom who lost both his legs in 2010 while serving as an Army explosive ordnance disposal technician in Afghanistan, pointed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees as another example of USAID’s lack of accountability, particularly during Biden’s administration.

UNRWA has been criticized, especially amid the Israel–Hamas war, for employing people connected to or sympathizing with the terrorist organization, prompting the group to publish a “Claims Versus Facts” page on its website.

“This is also why the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee must conduct a full State Department reauthorization for the first time since 2002,” Mast added.

Martin sent the memo to former USAID acting Administrator Jason Gray and his chief of staff Matt Hopson on Jan. 23, three days after Trump signed an executive order pausing foreign aid for 90 days and one day before he suspended much domestic federal funding before the implementation of that executive action was itself put on hold.

Since then, Gray was demoted, Hopson resigned, and Musk, after aides from DOGE accessed classified USAID information without security clearances, has declared his desire to shutter the agency. Secretary of State Marco Rubio assumed responsibility for USAID acting administrator earlier this week as Musk seeks to move it to be within his department.

Martin remains USAID’s watchdog after Trump fired 17 inspectors general last week, a USAID spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.

In the memo, Martin condemned USAID for not properly vetting aid organization partners for connections to designated terrorist organizations and known corrupt actors, in addition to a lack of data regarding USAID-funded sub-awardees or groups given money or resources through USAID funding recipients.

In the past, USAID has mostly relied on contractually required self-reporting, known as “mandatory disclosures.”

“Despite these obligations, direct reporting to OIG from UN agencies is limited and at times significantly delayed if not altogether absent,” Martin wrote, using the acronym for his Office of the Inspector General.

Martin’s memo similarly denounced the U.N. for “long delays or outright refusal by UN agencies in providing requested investigative information to OIG.”

“Obtaining information from U.N. agencies remains a lengthy and frustrating undertaking, delaying
OIG’s ability to investigate allegations of fraud, sexual abuse, and other matters such as,” he wrote.

Mast’s office underscored how USAID’s due diligence regarding funding awardees and terrorism connections did not happen for agency contractors and that USAID did not require disclosure from funding applicants of relationships with sanctioned or otherwise known corrupt entities. Mast aides also emphasized how there was no comprehensive database of sub-awardees, which hampered Martin’s oversight of the agency.

Democrats are worried the Education Department, among other federal government departments and agencies, will be under DOGE’s microscope next after USAID as Musk and his aides seek commitments from federal workers to accept buyouts.