WASHINGTON — It was part of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier: a government agency to work with developing countries around the world and spread democracy in the process.
Fifty years later, the U.S. Agency for International Development faces skepticism from other countries about its true purpose and warnings from critics who say it has strayed too much into the world of clandestine operations.
The imprisonment in Cuba of USAID subcontractor Alan Gross, who secretly brought in communications equipment to the country, has raised questions whether the aid agency has endangered its workers, even those who operate in the open....
