It’s hard to know where to start in the face of the massive misinformation and slander campaign against USAID. I have served in 11 overseas posts in the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and South Asia. I was an ambassador twice, consul general twice and a deputy assistant secretary of state. Many of the embassies where I served had USAID missions.

When I was a watch officer in the State Department Operations Center in the 1980s, the first number to call in the event of a humanitarian crisis overseas was USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Its disaster assistance recovery teams were the first in and led the government’s crisis response. So, if these organizations are no more, who do we call when disaster strikes?

I am glad to see former USAID administrator Andrew Natsios (and other former administrators) speaking out. But there are many more conservatives and Republicans besides Natsios who know full well the vital role that foreign assistance plays in our national security toolkit. I hope we will hear from more of them. I especially hope we will hear from all of Maine’s congressional delegation on the need to stop the foolhardy destruction of our assistance programs. We cannot afford to lose that function.

David Pearce
U.S. Ambassador (ret.)
Yarmouth