Focus on Western Islamism, a publication of the Middle East Forum (MEF), has just published a major study, “Terror Finance at the State Department and USAID.” It uncovers $164 million in taxpayer-funded U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grants to Islamist organizations, including $122 million in federal funds to groups aligned with designated terrorist entities. The study compiles nearly a decade of MEF research and public advocacy.
MEF’s report exposing USAID abuses comes amid the Trump administration’s overhaul of foreign assistance and government spending, with the State Department absorbing USAID’s offices and assuming control of its activities and records. Earlier today, the Trump administration placed a global freeze on foreign aid and Secretary of State Marco Rubio took over as USAID’s acting administrator.
MEF’s investigations underscore the urgency behind efforts to reform the federal agency. USAID funding is regularly dispensed to foreign and domestic nongovernmental organizations publicly affiliated with terrorist networks in places like Gaza, Syria, and Afghanistan.
For example, a 2018 article revealed that, with USAID’s explicit approval, Christian mega-charity World Vision funds Al Qaeda in Sudan. Or a 2024 report showed USAID grant recipients working hand-in-hand with Hamas jihadists. Many other jihadi groups have prospered thanks to unwitting U.S. taxpayer patronage.
“USAID officials are not guileless philanthropists,” said Sam Westrop, director of Islamist Watch and primary author of the study. “The data in ‘Terror Finance’ paint a clear picture: USAID is complicit in financing jihad.” Westrop called for “a public vetting process of U.S. government grants to exclude any organization with even the most indirect link to an extremist movement.”
The original announcement can be found here.