Rubio’s plan to trust UN with US-funded aid faces security threats
A U.N. agency trusted by the U.S., the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA), experienced numerous security incidents while managing U.S.-funded aid programs over a three-month period, including fraud, diversion, and violence in 18 countries. The incidents, documented in a confidential report, highlight challenges such as terrorist attacks, sexual abuse allegations, theft, and intimidation by armed groups, with many issues only reviewed and recommended upon by OCHA staff. Despite efforts to streamline vetting and improve oversight, concerns remain about the security risks and effectiveness of OCHA’s management. The Biden and Trump administrations aimed to increase accountability and reconfigure U.S. aid, with the Trump-era policies shrinking the foreign aid bureaucracy. However, critics worry that delegating aid management to UN agencies like OCHA, which have limited experience handling such large sums and notable oversight deficiencies, poses risks of mismanagement and security problems. Tensions also persist over the U.S. government’s trust in OCHA, especially after recent demands for investigations into Hamas involvement in aid programs. while U.S. officials seek to enhance aid accountability, security issues and oversight concerns continue to challenge effective management of humanitarian funds through the UN.
EXCLUSIVE — A U.N. agency trusted by the State Department faced dozens of security incidents that threatened U.S. aid in a three-month period, according to records obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 48 reports of fraud, diversion, and other obstacles from April through June for U.S.-funded programs in 18 countries, a confidential OCHA report shows. The document was sent to the State Department in July to track roughly half of the $3.8 billion the Trump administration pledged to OCHA since December. The agency marked 22 of the incidents as “resolved.”
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OCHA largely relies on other humanitarian organizations to distribute the U.S.-funded services after fast-tracking their vetting process, the report shows. The document gives a snapshot of OCHA partners’ chaotic situations on the ground, such as Islamic terrorists allegedly damaging a Nigeria facility, sexual abuse allegations in Chad, “intimidation by armed groups” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ugandan security guards allegedly stealing supplies, and “unidentified armed men” running off with an aid vehicle in Ethiopia. OCHA bureaucrats’ responses often amounted to reviewing the incidents and making recommendations.
The State Department said its new OCHA partnership would bring “accountability” for taxpayer funds after President Donald Trump shrunk America’s foreign aid bureaucracy and paused programs. But the partnership creates no “legally binding obligations” and defers entirely to U.N. policy for managing internal issues, according to a signed “memorandum of understanding” the Washington Examiner obtained. OCHA’s security woes could hinder Trump’s ability to fulfill promises to his base, as conservative policy experts argue that outsourcing tasks to the U.N. agency was a risky idea.
OCHA and the State Department did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
Where’s the money going?
The State Department’s memo required OCHA to create new “Accountability and Impact Teams” to “identify, assess, and mitigate” risks affecting U.S.-funded aid.
Securing the supplies is proving to be easier said than done for OCHA and its partnering groups, according to its quarterly report.
“On the night of 16 June, a critically ill and unconscious patient was brought to a primary health care center and died soon after,” the report said about an incident in Bangladesh. “The group that brought the patient became violent, attacking personnel on site and vandalizing the facilities including medical equipment. Some workers were reported trapped inside the facilities during the incident, and were later freed with the support of camp authorities who intervened.”
The encounter led to new security measures, and “an assessment of losses … will be shared with OCHA,” the agency wrote.
For the first $1.9 billion of the State Department funds, OCHA spent 2% of staffing costs on “security” and 7% on “protection,” according to the report. OCHA said it received feedback suggesting it reconsider its budgeting choices.
OCHA also allowed vetting of partnering groups to be “fast-tracked” to get its U.S.-funded programs up and running, the report said.
The agency also mentioned mixed feedback from partnering countries about whether its Accountability and Impact Teams were helping. “Some counterparts have also raised concerns that AITs may function too much in isolation, potentially missing opportunities to flag risks or concerns that could affect the wider response,” the report says.
Rubio’s dilemma
Trump portrayed humanitarian aid systems as wasteful and mismanaged while he overhauled the bureaucracy throughout 2025. Republican lawmakers also repeatedly called out former President Joe Biden for failing to keep tax dollars in Afghanistan out of the Taliban’s hands.
Cutting staff left Secretary of State Marco Rubio‘s team responsible for numerous programs and dollars once handled by the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development. The State Department thus announced in December that OCHA would help drive a “Humanitarian Reset” through its signed memo, which officials did not make public.
“This [memo] reflects the good-faith intentions of the Partners and does not create any legally binding obligations, rights, or liabilities under international law, national law, or any other legal system,” the document said. It adds that “OCHA’s activities are subject to the regulations, rules, policies, and procedures of the United Nations.”
Despite the political appetite for foreign aid reform, conservatives expressed concern at the State Department’s announcement that it would trust OCHA with billions of dollars.
“For context, OCHA has never managed even half this amount of money — the U.S. contribution would double OCHA’s 2025 funding,” experts at the American Enterprise Institute wrote in February about the first $1.9 billion. “Nor does the new [agreement] improve oversight of assistance, leaving that to the UN’s Board of Auditors, Office of Internal Oversight Services and the Joint Inspection Unit — entities that the U.S. Mission to the UN has criticized as inadequate and lacking independence.”
“The State Department’s confidence in the effectiveness of OCHA’s pooled funds is strange,” a Heritage Foundation analyst wrote in July.
STATE DEPARTMENT DEMANDS US-FUNDED UN AGENCY ‘FULLY INVESTIGATE’ HAMAS INVOLVEMENT IN AID PROGRAMS
OCHA’s quarterly report went to U.S. officials just days after the State Department demanded it “fully investigate” Hamas‘s meddling in Gaza aid programs, activities the department said it is not funding. The United Nations already lost funds for its Palestinian refugee agency over reports that it employed people who participated in Hamas’s 2023 massacre in Israel.
“Over time, the Department of State expects all U.S. funding of UN humanitarian work to be channeled through OCHA pooled fund vehicles,” Rubio’s officials said in December.
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