How DOGE’s Anti-Corruption Campaign Will Fuel Global Corruption

Corruption is a key driver of extreme poverty and inequality throughout the world. While an exact figure remains elusive, the UN estimates that corruption costs $2.6 trillion annually, or 5% of the world's GDP. Corruption is also a destabilizing force that is frequently at the heart of global events. It played a key role in the founding of Al-Qaeda, ignited the Arab Spring, and exacerbated the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. Given its far-reaching consequences, addressing global corruption requires sustained intervention.

For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (“USAID”) has been leading this charge. USAID is the agency charged with administering humanitarian aid globally, and in 2004, it launched a broad Anti-Corruption Strategy to directly target the root of poverty and instability. This focus spurred 300 anti-corruption projects in 74 countries between 2007 and 2013.

USAID then expanded its focus in 2022, seeking to challenge transnational corruption and kleptocracy by embedding anti-corruption programming within its missions. As part of this initiative, USAID has worked to strengthen countries’ capacity to fight corruption by empowering domestic media, establishing transparent procurement systems, and training judges and prosecutors to effectively address complex corruption cases.

This vital work has yielded remarkable results, yet the Trump administration initiated a complete freeze of all USAID foreign assistance on January 20th, 2025.Trump justified this freeze by accusing USAID of committing fraud and theft. Shortly afterward, the “Department of Government Efficiency”(DOGE), under Elon Musk, began brutally dismantling the agency, despite a complete lack of congressional approval. As of March 10th, the Secretary of State announced that 83% of all USAID programs had been officially cut.

One immediate impact of this devastating decision has been the abrupt withdrawal of funding from international journalists. A free and independent press is crucial to fighting corruption, and for years, USAID funded news organizations worldwide. USAID was especially important to Ukrainian news outlets, giving journalists the tools to hold the government accountable and ensure transparency. Reporters Without Borders found that “nine out of 10 Ukrainian outlets receive international aid and USAID is the main donor.” The sudden funding freeze has already crippled local media, forcing multiple large outlets to resort to fundraisers. One of these outlets, Slidstvo, which lost 80% of its funding, specialized in investigating corruption and was a close partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which performs “indispensable journalistic work investigating the misdeeds of the rich and crooked in Eastern Europe.”

The Ukrainian press is not unique in its reliance on USAID funding. USAID supported journalism in over 30 countries, and had recently awarded a large contract to foster collaboration “among Asian investigative journalists on transborder crime and corruption.” Additionally, USAID assisted at least “6,200 journalists, …707 non-state news outlets, and…279 media-sector civil society organizations dedicated to strengthening independent media.” USAID was also funding the OCCRP, and the recent shutdown forced them to lay off 43 reporters and other staff. Congress had already committed to maintaining these efforts, but Elon Musk and the Trump administration withheld these funds, undermining a free and independent press. Furthermore, in addition to sabotaging efforts to uncover corruption, USAID’s dismantling also undermines critical anti-corruption efforts in public procurement.

For years, USAID has been helping countries reform their procurement systems to improve transparency and oversight. During his joint address to Congress on March 4th, President Trump announced that DOGE had recently canceled a USAID contract worth $14 million to improve public procurement in Serbia, labeling it an “appalling waste.” However, this is a small price to pay to secure a vulnerable sector. Because governments spend vast sums through procurement mechanisms, the area is ripe for misuse. This is especially detrimental in low-income nations, where the lost money can have a substantial impact on the ability of the government to provide necessary services. Fortunately, there is a blueprint for success that USAID had been relentlessly pursuing prior to this administration.

In Kosovo, USAID was able to substantially reduce the risks of procurement-related corruption through a series of initiatives. USAID funded the Open Procurement Transparency Portal, granting the public access to procurement documents that used to take days or even months to obtain. This meant that journalists, interested parties, or the public could oversee the government's procurement activities. USAID also helped Kosovo establish an Anti-Fraud Unit within the National Audit Office, and it expanded the use of e-procurement, reducing opportunities for corruption. Similar efforts to transition to e-procurement were also initiated by USAID in Liberia, which launched its first Electronic Government Procurement system in February 2025. Sadly, despite the success of these programs, replication in other countries is unlikely if USAID is allowed to be shuttered.

In addition to supporting procurement reform, USAID also fought to ensure that corrupt individuals were held accountable once their wrongdoings were exposed. USAID had been working to empower foreign judiciaries and investigators to competently handle complex corruption cases. Due to the constantly evolving techniques and technologies facilitating corrupt practices, these cases are only becoming more complex, which can put a strain on low-income countries. To ensure swift justice, USAID spearheaded efforts to train prosecutors, judges, and other interested parties on how to manage increasingly sophisticated corruption schemes.

In Paraguay, USAID had trained both judges and prosecutors in the handling of transnational corruption and criminal organizations. Similarly, USAID provided corruption training to staff at the Serbian Prosecutor's office, the Ugandan High Court’s Anti-Corruption Division, and to civil judges in Palestine. In Indonesia, USAID facilitated training for judges, prosecutors, and police regarding how to apply existing anti-corruption and anti-money laundering legislation to environmental crimes. This was in response to widespread violations of local environmental and wildlife protections, which presented a new and novel challenge for the judiciary. Ultimately, corruption is a constantly evolving field, and USAID helps foreign prosecutors and judges obtain the tools needed to properly fight it.

While the current administration has falsely accused USAID of fraud, the reality is that dismantling USAID would leave the world vastly more vulnerable to corruption. The damage caused by shutting down USAID will be profound and difficult to reverse. Anti-corruption work cannot be paused for four years and then resumed without consequences. Progress in this field is the result of sustained and relentless effort, but it can be undone in an instant, erasing decades of hard-won gains. Without USAID, the global fight against corruption risks collapse, leaving fragile nations to bear the consequences alone - and as always, it will be the poorest and most vulnerable who will suffer.

Emma Ritz

J.D. Candidate at The George Washington University Law School