by The Trump government has asked researchers and organizations whose work is being carried out abroad to announce links to those who are considered hostile, including “entities related to communist, socialist or totalitarian parties,” said a questionnaire obtained by the New York Times.
The online survey was sent this week to groups that work abroad to investigate diseases such as HIV, to collect surveillance data and to strengthen public health systems. Recipients received financing from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Agency for International Development and other federal sources.
The questionnaire is very similar to one that was sent earlier this week to partners of the United States Agency for International Development, which was almost dismantled by the Trump government. Both were entitled ‘Foreign Assistance Review’.
Recipients were instructed to respond within 48 hours. Some beneficiaries interviewed by The Times feared that unsatisfactory or unsatisfactory answers can lead to cancellation of financing.
“Taxpayer Dollars may not finance or intervene the dependence, socialism, corrupt regimes that oppose free enterprise in internal affairs of another sovereign nation,” said the questionnaire.
“A really prosperous America gives priority to domestic growth, innovation and economic strength over foreign hand -outs,” it added.
A spokesperson for the White House has not returned a request for comments about the survey.
The form asks a series of questions that touch employees, including or subsidy recipients work with drug cartels or “Groups that promote mass migration.”
It requires the impact of programs, such as whether they have an effect on “promoting religious freedom and fighting Christian persecution” in other nations.
It asks the recipients of Grant whether they or their organizations have been working with or have received financing from Russia, Cuba, Iran or China – including the Confucius Institute, which cooperates with the Chinese Ministry of Education to promote language and cultural exchanges with American students.
Some federal officials who supervise subsidies said they were particularly apparent by a question that was asked to reject the beneficiaries to dismiss associations with communist entities. The United States help with health work in a number of communist countries, including Vietnam.
“Some of my beneficiaries are literally the government structures of public health in a communist country,” said a federal officer who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation. “This is painful.”
Awards and contracts to help groups can be revised during a 90 -day break about foreign help, but in some cases they have been canceled and restored in recent weeks. The Supreme Court ordered the federal government on Wednesday to resume payments.
Various versions of the questionnaires were broadcast from Wednesday and the deadlines seem to vary from midnight on Friday to 5 pm Monday. But the process is steeped in confusion.
Some beneficiaries seem to have received extensions while others were refused. Some noted that the deadline seemed to shift as more copies of the questionnaire were received every day.
The recipients include scientists from large universities and research programs in the United States, as well as small organizations abroad. Some questionnaires were apparently wrongly sent; One was received by Maine’s health department.
A main investigator with two CDC subsidies for domestic research projects received the E -mail on Thursday evening, just to receive a Friday morning in which he had to ignore the previous missive.
The answers are intended to be filled in by a single person in one go, without storing answers for a break. The form estimates that the task takes 30 minutes, including the time it is required to collect the necessary data and documents.
“The chaotic way in which these stop work orders, seals, distance declarations, recovery prices, surveys – surveys – are all sent with fast deadlines and minimal communication – is distracting and incredibly disruptive,” said a scientist who spoke anonymously for fear of losing financing.
Some American beneficiaries have turned to lawyers for advice on how the answers can be formulated.
Organizations based abroad are the most disadvantageous. The communication break that the Trump administration imposed a few weeks ago still prevents them from talking to federal officials who could possibly help, according to a CDC officer.
Development is only allowed to talk to American officials in the countries where they are located.
“They can lose the vital funds they need to do their work if they do not answer these questions in the right way,” said a federal officer who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation.
