A Government Accountability Office report found the State Department and USAID funded about 470 projects to counter Chinese influence, but lacked reliable data showing where the money went or whether the programs worked.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The State Department and USAID spent nearly $1.2 billion on projects intended to counter Chinese influence around the world, but the U.S. government lacks reliable data showing how the money was used or whether the programs were effective, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
The GAO report found that from fiscal year 2020 through fiscal year 2023, the two agencies funded an estimated 470 projects through the U.S. government’s only dedicated fund for countering Chinese influence. The interagency body overseeing the effort, however, did not maintain complete records of the projects it funded and had not measured whether the spending achieved its intended purpose.
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The report found that officials could not readily provide reliable information on the projects and had to ask State Department bureaus and overseas posts to gather data from multiple sources.
“In response to GAO’s request, officials stated they had to ask the bureaus and overseas posts managing the projects to compile data from various sources, resulting in incomplete data and errors,” the GAO report found.
The gaps were extensive. Of the estimated 470 projects, officials did not provide time frame data for 129 projects and did not provide lines of effort for 38. Officials also lacked data on the specific projects funded from nearly one-third of approved proposals.
“As a result, working group officials lack critical information to track how funds were used and determine whether the funding ultimately supports the activities described in approved proposals,” GAO found.
The working group responsible for evaluating the spending also lacked a framework to measure results. Officials began developing one in 2023, but the effort was paused in January 2025 after an executive order halted foreign assistance funds. GAO said State Department officials would not commit to restarting development of the framework.
The report also found that officials did not review results from prior projects when deciding whether to approve new funding proposals. That means the working group did not know which projects had succeeded or failed before awarding additional money.
Effectiveness was never measured across the full portfolio, GAO found. Proposal guidance required applicants to describe project-level monitoring, but it did not require common indicators or planned evaluations that would allow officials to compare projects against the broader goal of countering Chinese influence.
After five years and more than $1 billion in spending, GAO found that the government had not determined whether the money effectively countered Chinese influence.
The report also raised concerns about who reviewed funding proposals. Annual guidance did not require State Department foreign service officers with China expertise in the region to review proposals for effectiveness or likelihood of success.
GAO said this was done “to avoid the perception that RCOs have a role in approving or rejecting proposals, which could ultimately impede [the expert’s] working relationships with posts.”
That decision meant officials with the most relevant expertise on China-related programs were not required to review the projects before funding decisions were made.
The scale of the recordkeeping problem was also significant. It took 58 State Department teams and 55 USAID teams nearly five months to provide GAO with requested data on how the funds were spent.
Even after more than 100 government teams worked for months to collect the information, the data remained incomplete. Officials could not provide award numbers for about one-fifth of the estimated 470 projects, start and end dates for about one-quarter, and obligations data for about one-third.
Officials also lacked information on the specific projects funded from nearly one-third of approved proposals, meaning they could not provide GAO with project names, award numbers or implementing teams for many funded efforts.
GAO said the problem reflects a broader pattern at the State Department.
“We have previously reported that State has not tracked key program data, leading to challenges in providing readily available and accurate data on the status of programming,” GAO stated.
The findings raise questions about oversight of U.S. foreign assistance programs aimed at countering Beijing’s global influence. While the projects were intended to respond to Chinese diplomatic, economic and information operations worldwide, GAO found that the agencies managing the money could not fully show what was funded, how the projects performed or whether the spending advanced U.S. strategic goals.
GAO’s report concluded that without reliable data and a consistent evaluation framework, officials cannot determine whether taxpayer funds were used effectively or whether future funding decisions are based on evidence of success.