Trump Cuts USAID Program Keeping Aid Workers Safe from Strikes in War Zones
The Trump administration’s push to shutter the agency means it's unable to warn the US military where aid workers are operating
That “humanitarian notification system” has been shut down for more than a week, according to two US officials, after the Trump administration halted virtually all of the agency’s work.
Photographer: Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesHumanitarian aid convoys could be exposed to US military strikes after a system designed to alert Pentagon authorities to their presence in war zones was shut down as part of the Trump administration’s move to close the US Agency for International Development.
For roughly a decade, USAID had been collecting the locations of humanitarian aid agencies in global hotspots and sharing them with Defense Department officials responsible for determining what targets to hit. It’s a real-time communication network, often updated multiple times a day, meant to ensure the safety of workers helping civilians in conflict areas.