26 JUNE 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL his American citizen children in the United States when their mother was placed in hospice, to ensure they did not enter foster care and become wards of the state. I have explained the “Muslim ban” and “extreme vetting” to foreign governments. I have explained the U.S. electoral system and the system of checks and balances in countries with monarchies and authoritarian democracies. I have implemented and advocated for policies I personally deeply disagreed with under both Democratic and Republican leaders. I have evacuated U.S. citizens in emergency situations in Burundi, Sudan, Afghanistan, Guinea, Lebanon, and so many other places that honestly I can’t even remember anymore. I do not have a gun, but I am the person who goes into the crisis to make sure you can get out. On a slow week, I work 40 hours; most weeks, I work 50. I do not get paid overtime. I have missed my only sister’s wedding and the births of her two children. My dad is terminally ill, and I am not there. I haven’t seen my mom in several years because whatever vacation time and money I scrape together goes to helping my dad. I have given up my right to express my opinion on U.S. government policy, even as I am required to implement it. This is just the story of one federal employee. But it is not unusual. We come from all over the United States. From families who had nothing other than a strong work ethic, and who instilled in us the value of service. No one will argue that government is perfect: We live it every day and see its flaws. But we also know that the work we do is essential to our nation. I work hard every day to keep you safe regardless of who you are or what your political beliefs are. I have not received any special treatment to get where I am: I have benefited from programs open to any citizen of the United States in need, and I have more than paid back that debt. e Supporting Press Freedom My portfolio covers USAID’s support for journalists and press freedom in Eastern Europe. USAID’s media strengthening programs enhance the integrity, resilience, and plurality of the news and information space across the region. We help citizens to be more informed about their health care and education decisions; members of the private sector to make data-driven decisions on running their businesses and contributing to the economy; communities to hold their leaders and policymakers to account; and countries to be more stable, better governed, less corrupt, more open to business, and better aligned with American interests and values. This, in turn, makes America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. One example is our support of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which was the lead partner in Eastern Europe on the Panama Papers investigation. The largest collaboration of journalists to date, the project involved more than 350 reporters from 80 countries who analyzed and verified the data from more than 11 million leaked records, including emails, financial spreadsheets, passports, and corporate records. Journalists were able to cross-check it with other public databases and politically exposed persons records to then follow the money trail. The findings were published in 2016, exposing how hundreds of political and financial elites and celebrities moved their licit and illicit wealth through hard-to-trace companies and tax havens. Reporting by OCCRP and its partners revealed how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin shuffled more than $2 billion in stolen public funds through banks and shadow companies. This is just one example of OCCRP’s work, which has earned nearly 300 local, national, and international reporting awards, contributing to the seizure or freezing of at least $10 billion in assets and nearly 500 arrests, indictments, and sentences since 2009. That year, USAID was OCCRP’s first public donor, and OCCRP estimates that for every $1 in U.S. government funding, it has returned $100 to the U.S. taxpayer in fines levied by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Treasury against banks and companies for wrongdoing exposed by OCCRP reporting. The positive impact of USAID assistance to independent media is also shown in Ukraine, where USAID supported the delivery of nearly 1,000 flak jackets and helmets for journalists reporting on the war (including the first set of military-grade vests to get across the border after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022), thousands of first aid kits, and training on first aid and conflict reporting. USAID also obligated $20 million in January 2025, before the current administration’s stop work order, to help replenish such equipment and training, which was needed after three years of war. The funding also would have gone to help reporters continue to track tens of thousands of kidnapped children taken from Ukraine to
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