USAID is only as honest as those who are in charge at US Missions abroad. Having said that, the organization is corrupted by those who use their positions for personal comfort, both with housing perks and TDY monies for travel. Once someone is at the Grade of FS2/1 or GS14/15 they can manage to take official travel to the tune of 50-60K annually and be off from work for official duties elsewhere about 30-45 days a year, then add on the annual leave used in conjunction and you get the drift. As for the doling out of Official Funds for program expenditures, think kickbacks, personal favors, etc. Our entire US Dept of State and USAID, along with other agencies seem to reward those who are at the top of each organization along with those they work with. As someone who served as both a Certifying Officer and Contracting Officer, I found it very difficult to question expenditures when dealing with this very management.
Thanks for the info. It is a system set up for at least a modest amount of corruption. The people who should be questioning expenditures have almost no incentive to do so and plenty of incentives not to.
We need a new department called the Department of International Affairs - then fire the entire State Department and rehire based on pro-American views and competency.