Project Good Podcast

Annmarie Hylton introduces Project Good and a July focus on USAID, outlining its creation in 1961, global development and humanitarian roles, and its reliance on grants and contracts, before noting it ceased operations in July 2025 and was merged into the State Department after 2025 funding freezes and mass program terminations. She interviews former USAID Mission Director and attorney Clifford Brown, author of Inside USAID: An Odyssey of Foreign Assistance, about his path from commercial law to overseas development work and how USAID evolved from in-house technical expertise to primarily funding implementers. Brown argues the shutdown was a politically driven “stop work” action led by Elon Musk’s DOGE team that disrupted even “life-saving” programs despite stated exemptions, generated major legal claims, harmed staff and partners, and likely contributed to preventable deaths, while also weakening global health, development knowledge systems, and international efforts tied to broader goals; both emphasize rebuilding trust, human connection, and public awareness.

00:00 Welcome to Project Good
02:13 Meet Clifford Brown
08:16 What USAID Really Did
17:19 Why USAID Was Shut Down
24:10 Human Cost and Fallout
31:24 Aid Freeze Fallout
40:58 Health Security Gaps
44:47 Foreign Aid Misconceptions
48:47 Borders And Trust
01:03:19 Final Thanks And Links

Clifford Brown is the author of Inside USAID: An Odyssey of Foreign Assistance. Mr. Brown is also an attorney who graduated from UCLA law school in 1976 and practiced commercial securities and law for eleven years in Beverly Hills,CA. His interest in international affairs and languages, convinced him to join the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1987 when he was the Mission Director for Guinea and Sierra Leone.