According to The Washington Post, International Relief and Development (IRD) was suspended from receiving any additional federal work because of IRD’s “serious misconduct.” IRD is also currently being investigated by the FBI.
During Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State, IRD received more than $1 billion from the State Department and USAID. The decision during Clinton’s tenure to send large amounts of money to the company stands out because the company had already faced allegations of waste, fraud, and gross impropriety prior to Secretary Clinton’s tenure. IRD had previously been accused of running a program in Iraq that ended up sending the taxpayer’s dollars to the Iraqi insurgency. The program was eventually cancelled after reports of misspending, evidence of inflated performance results, and money being siphoned to insurgents.
Despite these warning signs, under Secretary Clinton’s leadership, the State Department and USAID sent huge amounts of money to the company. Prior to the suspension of the company this week, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) announced it was investigating IRD for waste, mismanagement, and accepting bribes.
USAID is an independent government agency that receives “overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State,” is overseen by the State Department, and its foreign assistance budget is managed from within the State Department.