The Trump administration asked researchers and organizations whose work is done abroad to disclose links with those considered hostile, including “entities associated with communist, socialist or totalitarian parties”, according to a questionnaire obtained by the New York Times.
The online survey was sent this week to groups working abroad to seek diseases such as HIV, collect surveillance data and strengthen public health systems. The beneficiaries have received funding from the centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States agency for international development and other federal sources.
The questionnaire seems to be very similar to that sent earlier this week to the partners of the American agency for international development, which was almost dismantled by the Trump administration. The two were entitled “Review of foreign assistance”.
The beneficiaries were invited to respond within 48 hours. Certain beneficiaries interviewed by the Times feared that impolitical or unsatisfactory responses lead to the cancellation of funding.
“Taxpayers’ dollars should not finance dependence, socialism, corrupt regimes that oppose the free business or to intervene in internal matters of another sovereign nation,” said the questionnaire.
“A truly prosperous America gives priority to internal growth, innovation and economic force compared to foreign documents,” he added.
A White House spokesperson did not return a request for comments on the investigation.
The form poses a series of questions that affect employees, especially if the subsidy beneficiaries work with drug cartels or “groups that promote mass migration”.
He raises questions about the impact of programs, such as they have an effect on the “promotion of religious freedom and the fight against Christian persecution” in other countries.
He asks the beneficiaries of subsidies if they or their organizations collaborate with or have received funds from Russia, Cuba, Iran or China – including the Confucius Institute, Who works with the Chinese Ministry of Education to promote the exchanges of languages and cultural with American students.
Some federal officials who oversee subsidies have declared that they were particularly dismayed by a question asking the beneficiaries to disavow the associations with the communist entities. The United States is helping health work in a number of communist countries, including Vietnam.
“Some of my beneficiaries are literally the structures of the government of public health in a communist country,” said a federal official, who spoke anonymously for fear of remuneration. “It’s painful.”
Prices and contracts to help groups were revised during a 90 -day break on foreign aid, but in some cases, they have been canceled and restored in recent weeks. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to resume payments.
Various versions of the questionnaires were sent on Wednesday, and deadlines seem to be from midnight from Friday to 5 p.m. Monday. But the process was riddled with confusion.
Some beneficiaries seem to have received extensions, while others have been refused. Some have noted that the deadline seemed to move when more copies of the questionnaire were received every day.
Recipients included scientists from major universities and research programs in the United States, as well as tiny organizations abroad. Some questionnaires have apparently been sent by mistake; One was received by the Maine health service.
A main investigator with two CDC subsidies for domestic research projects received the email on Thursday evening, to receive another Friday morning telling him to ignore the previous missive.
The answers are supposed to be filled by a single person in a single session, without any way to save the answers for a break. The form considers the task of taking 30 minutes, including the time required to collect the necessary data and documents.
“The chaotic way in which these working orders stop, endings, derogations, rewards, surveys, surveys – all with rapid deadlines and minimum communication – were sent is distracting and incredibly disruptive,” said a scientist, who spoke anonymously for fear of losing funding.
Some American beneficiaries have turned to lawyers to get advice on how to formulate the answers.
Organizations based abroad are the most disadvantaged. The communications break that the Trump administration imposed several weeks ago always prevents them from talking to federal officials who may be able to help, according to a CDC official.
Beneficiaries are only allowed to speak to US officials in countries where they are based.
“They could lose the vital funds they need to do their job if they do not respond appropriately,” said a federal official, who spoke anonymously for fear of remuneration.
