Feb. 7 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday issued a memo demanding a review of federal funding for nongovernmental organizations and for an end to groups that he believes “undermine the national interest.”
The move comes after the Trump administration continues its wholesale dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, one of the country’s most prominent foreign aid organizations.
The State Department said there are about 1.5 million advocacy and service NGO connected with federal funding, which targets social and economic issues, including elections, health care, women’s rights, etc.
“The United States government has provided significant taxpayer dollars to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), many of which are engaged in actions that actively undermine the security, prosperity, and safety of the American people,” the memo said.
“It is the policy of my administration to stop funding NGOs that undermine our national interest. I therefore direct the heads of executive departments and agencies to review all funding that agencies provide to NGOs.”
The memo said the agencies should “align future funding” with the interest of the United States and the “priorities of my administration.”
The memo did not give specific names of NGOs that the president believed were undermining the United States with its work nor examples of work he believed were violating the priorities of his administration.