Most Americans have never heard of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), a tiny piece of the federal bureaucracy that funds news reporting in countries where freedom and democracy are in short supply. In recent years, though, this small agency has experienced an extraordinary crisis of leadership. The recent rot of dysfunction formed on a bed of groupthink, political bias, and self-dealing. The lesson? When management officials stand to benefit from a lack of outside scrutiny, subterfuge and misdirection become survival tactics. Fortunately, in this case, congressional oversight identified wrongdoing. But the mea culpa has yet to come.
As a forthcoming report by the House Foreign Affairs Committee lays out, the story is straight out of a detective novel: A top-level executive is accused of verbally harassing staff, mismanaging public funds, and lying about educational credentials from an elite European university. Whistleblowers file a complaint with the inspector general, and the agency’s HR department begins to investigate. The allegations are confirmed, and the official is ultimately issued a “notice of removal” while President Trump is still in office. President Biden takes over shortly before the firing can be finalized. In the midst of this transition, the official somehow gets to keep the job — with no discipline of any kind. Meanwhile, the agency, with Democrats newly in charge, “reinvestigates” the relevant conduct and — surprise, surprise — exonerates the official. According to Biden supporters embedded in the agency, HR, under Trump, made a mistake.
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