Republicans launch probe into how U.S. media agency vetted foreign nationals they hired

House Republicans launched an investigation Tuesday into how the U.S. Agency for Global Media vetted foreign nationals, including those from countries hostile to the U.S., and why senior agency officials awarded grants to entities with alleged conflicts of interest.

Top GOP lawmakers from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and its subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, say they received information that indicates that USAGM for years routinely misused visa programs to hire inadequately vetted foreign nationals.

The agency has two federal networks—Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting—and five purportedly independent networks and grantees.

These include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia (RFA), Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Open Technology Fund (OTF), and Frontline Media Fund

To address potential security vulnerabilities and misconduct, the lawmakers sent a letter Tuesday to USAGM Senior Advisor Kari Lake, requesting documents and information to ensure the agency and its grantees are no longer posing national security risks or engaging in improper or unethical activities. Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and Government Efficiency Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene made the request.

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting oversight of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, especially longstanding security vulnerabilities exacerbated by mismanagement—a situation that persisted for years at the agency,” they wrote.

Both lawmakers noted that USAGM has a budget of just less than $1 billion to fulfill its mission of “informing engaging and connecting people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.”

“Multiple investigations have revealed persistent abuses at the USAGM, its networks and grantees. The U.S. Department of State’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) uncovered serious security vulnerabilities at USAGM,” Mr. Comer and Ms. Greene wrote.

This includes “improper grant awards by RFA leadership and the employment of more than 1,500 individuals in sensitive national security roles based on falsified or unauthorized background checks,” the lawmakers said.

They added, “USAGM misused the J-1 visa program to bring in foreign nationals for journalistic roles that could have been filled by American citizens. These practices, combined with inadequate vetting, raise concerns that USAGM may have enabled foreign espionage and exposed U.S. national security to significant threats.”

Both lawmakers say the Biden administration rolled back security reforms implemented in the first Trump administration to address “repeated requests ‘by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) that had been ignored by USAGM.”

President Trump issued an Executive Order on March 14 that eliminated the non-statutory components and functions of the USAGM.

The order triggered a legal battle as more than 500 VOA contractors were forced out of their jobs and another 800 employees were placed on leave starting in March.

However, Ms. Lake recalled approximately 75 Farsi-speaking VOA staffers from its Persian News Service, which includes dozens of journalists, from administrative leave in recent days, Fox News digital reported, to cover the broadening Iran-Israel conflict.