Following the uncovering of a massive bribery scandal at USAID, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is ordering a full audit of all government contracting officers who have exercised grant-awarding authority under the agency’s business development program over the last 15 years.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the scale of the USAID fraud is a «damning reflection of systemic failures in oversight and accountability.» She further said that the fraud «was not an isolated incident.»

In response, Loeffler instructed Associate Administrator Tre Pennie, who oversees government contracts awarded by SBA, to «act decisively» to crack down on any potential similar abuses in the agency.

Loeffler instructed Pennie to immediately initiate a full-scale audit of the agency’s awarding officers back to 2010.

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«The role of federal government contracting officers is not ceremonial or self-dealing; rather, it is a position of immense authority and fiduciary responsibility,» said Loeffler. «The contracting process must be transparent and built on merit, not personal gain.»

This comes after USAID, an agency tasked with administering civilian foreign aid, was essentially dismantled by the DOGE waste, fraud and abuse cuts made under Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. The move was met with massive protests from Democrats who claimed that cutting USAID would impoverish and harm recipients across the globe.

Despite claims of how much good the agency was doing, it was recently discovered that an influential contracting officer at USAID named Roderick Watson was able to carry out a massive, long-term bribery scheme dating all the way back to 2013.

Watson, 57, pleaded guilty to «bribery of a public official,» according to a DOJ press release.

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Protesters hold placards as Pete Marocco, deputy administrator-designate at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), attends a meeting with members of Congress to discuss foreign assistance, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. Mar. 5, 2025.  (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura)

According to the DOJ, Watson sold his influence starting in 2013, with contractors Walter Barnes, owner of Vistant, and Darryl Britt, owner of Apprio, funneling payoffs through subcontractor Paul Young to hide their tracks. 

A DOJ press release said that Britt and Barnes «regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives. The bribes were also often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices.»

The statement said that Watson is alleged to have received bribes «valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme.»

Vistant was awarded in November 2023, as part of a joint venture, a contract worth up to $800 million with one of the focuses of that contract being to address «a variety of issues affecting the root causes of irregular migration from Central America to the United States,» an issue that President Joe Biden tasked then-Vice President Kamala Harris with during his presidency.

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A worker removes the U.S. Agency for International Development sign on their headquarters on Feb. 07, 2025 in Washington, D.C.  (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Several days later, that contract was canceled after USAID published a notice that said Vistant was excluded from government contracting due to «evidence of conduct of a lack of business honesty or integrity.»

The joint venture then successfully sued the government over being put on that exclusion list and was re-awarded the contract and given a $10,000 payment in August 2024. 

In her letter, Loeffler said the USAID scandal «represents a collapse in the very safeguards that are supposed to protect American taxpayer dollars and ensure fair access for legitimate small businesses.»

She slammed the Biden administration for awarding the $800 million contract to Vistant despite the business being labeled by USAID as lacking «honesty and integrity.»

«The fact that a federal official was able to act as the linchpin of a persistent, large-scale fraud operation speaks to a failure in internal controls and a breakdown in the contracting environment that demands immediate correction,» said Loeffler.

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Small Business Administration building (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

She said that SBA plays a «critical role» in federal contracting and «will no longer stand by while abuses are perpetrated at the expense of taxpayers and deserving small businesses.»

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Loeffler said the agency’s audit will begin with high-dollar and limited competition contracts within SBA’s 8(a) business development program. The findings will be referred to the U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the DOJ.

Any officials or businesses found in violation of the SBA’s ethical standards or who have committed criminal misconduct will be referred to the appropriate authorities and SBA will assist the DOJ in recovering misappropriated funds, Loeffler said.

«We will not allow public trust to be quietly eroded by backdoor deals and unchecked discretion,» said Loeffler.

«We owe it to America’s small businesses to get this right,» she went on. «Your office has the authority, and now the mandate, to act decisively.» 

JERUSALEM — President Donald Trump’s signature Middle East agreement — the Abraham Accords — which normalized relations between Israel and Sunni Gulf States and North African countries, might absorb new candidates, according to Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.

«We think we will have some pretty big announcements on countries that are coming into the Abraham Accords,» Witkoff told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday.

At the White House press briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt named Syria as one of the nations the president was keen to join, noting their historic meeting in Saudi Arabia earlier in the year. «When the president met with the new president of Syria, that was one of the requests he made for Syria to sign onto the Abraham Accords,» she said.

One of the largest Hebrew-language outlets, Israel Hayom, reported Tuesday that Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi believes those countries are Syria and Lebanon as the top Middle East states who could join the Abraham Accords.

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According to Israel Hayom, Hanegbi disclosed during a classified meeting with the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel maintains direct dialogue with Syria’s new government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former member of the U.S.-designated terrorist movements, the Islamic State and al Qaeda. 

Middle East expert Eugene Kontorovich, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, «With Iran humiliated, Lebanon and Syria are quite realistic, but I would be impressed if it were soon as in months. I do expect them to make peace with Israel and come into the Abraham Accords during Trump’s term.»

He added that «Syria could be possible simply because the new government has so much to gain, as it seeks legitimacy.»

Witkoff’s teasing of an expansion of the Abraham Accords has electrified the Israeli media and veteran Middle East observers.

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The Abraham Accords signing ceremony at the White House on Sept. 13, 2020. (Getty)

In May, Trump asked Syrian President al-Sharaa to fully normalize relations with Israel in exchange for sanctions relief. 

«The barriers of entry for expanding the Abraham Accords are incredibly low. It will not surprise me if President Trump expands the Accords within his second term,» Robert Greenway, former senior director for the National Security Council and key architect of the Abraham Accords, told Maria Bartiromo, on «Mornings With Maria» on FOX Business.

After the completion of the Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in 2020, there was a growing expectation among U.S. officials and Middle East experts that Saudi Arabia would follow suit.

From left to right, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and Foreign Affairs Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan wave from the Truman Balcony of the White House after the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House on September 15, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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In February, Fox News Digital reported that Trump administration officials said the White House was seeking an expansion of the Abraham Accords.  

The Biden administration faced criticism for failing to expand the Abraham Accords and for picking fights with states who made peace with Israel as part of the landmark agreement.

Fox News Digital reached out to U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, the Israeli prime minister’s office and the country’s foreign affairs ministry for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Cada año, el fuego avanza en las regiones más frías del planeta, alterando ecosistemas y liberando grandes cantidades de carbono, lo que intensifica la crisis climática global.

Un reciente análisis publicado en The Conversation se centró en esta situación y alertó sobre el creciente impacto de los incendios forestales y de turba en las regiones boreales y árticas. Este fenómeno afecta a áreas como Canadá, Alaska, Siberia, Escandinavia y Groenlandia, que han experimentado algunas de las temporadas más intensas y largas registradas de estos siniestros en los últimos años.

El avance de los incendios en estas regiones está estrechamente vinculado al aumento de las temperaturas globales. Sin embargo, en las zonas boreales y árticas, el calentamiento ocurre a un ritmo mucho más rápido que en el resto del planeta, un fenómeno conocido como “amplificación polar”. Este aumento de la temperatura incrementa la vulnerabilidad de los ecosistemas del norte, como los bosques y las turberas, haciéndolos más propensos a incendiarse.

Las turberas, que ocupan solo el 3% de la superficie terrestre, almacenan aproximadamente el 25% del carbono global del suelo. Cuando estos ecosistemas se incendian, este gas almacenado se libera, contribuyendo al aumento de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. A diferencia de los incendios forestales comunes, estos siniestros queman capas profundas de suelo orgánico, lo que resulta en emisiones de carbono significativas que pueden persistir durante meses, incluso bajo tierra durante el invierno.

Este fenómeno, que puede reavivarse en primavera, agrava aún más el cambio climático al generar un ciclo vicioso: el fuego genera más emisiones, lo que incrementa la temperatura, que a su vez favorece más incendios.

Los incendios en el norte no solo liberan carbono, sino que también emiten aerosoles y partículas que afectan la calidad del aire a grandes distancias. Esto tiene consecuencias graves para la salud, aumentando las enfermedades respiratorias y cardíacas, así como las hospitalizaciones y muertes relacionadas.

Además de los efectos directos de los incendios, el cambio climático en las zonas boreales y árticas también está alterando la distribución y el comportamiento de las especies vegetales. Investigaciones realizadas por la Universidad de Wageningen y el Instituto Botánico de Barcelona han analizado cómo evolucionarán las condiciones climáticas para más de 32.000 especies de árboles hacia el final del siglo XXI.

Según las simulaciones, cerca del 70% de las especies arbóreas experimentarán cambios significativos en parte de su área de distribución. Este impacto será aún más pronunciado si el calentamiento global continúa sin freno, lo que podría cambiar radicalmente la composición de los ecosistemas forestales y, a su vez, incrementar el riesgo de incendios en esas zonas.

Las evacuaciones, la pérdida de viviendas y la constante amenaza de incendios contribuyen al estrés y a problemas de salud mental en las comunidades afectadas.

Los incendios también pueden alterar el clima a corto plazo. Según el estudio citado por The Conversation, el cual fue presentado en la Unión Europea de Geociencias hace más de un año, los incendios en Canadá provocaron una disminución de las temperaturas superficiales en el hemisferio norte, llegando a -5,5 °C en Canadá y a anomalías de hasta -2,5 °C en Europa Oriental y Siberia.

Esto demuestra que los incendios en una región pueden generar efectos climáticos a nivel global, afectando sectores como la agricultura, la pesca y el transporte, y dificultando las predicciones meteorológicas.

A pesar de la importancia de las turberas para el equilibrio del carbono, muchos modelos climáticos actuales no consideran adecuadamente los incendios en estos ecosistemas. Investigadores de la Universidad Técnica de Creta, el Hazelab del Imperial College London y el Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society están llevando a cabo estudios para comprender mejor cómo se comportan estos incendios y su impacto en el cambio climático.

La relación entre los incendios en las altas latitudes y el cambio climático sigue siendo uno de los mayores desafíos para la ciencia. Según The Conversation, abordar este problema no solo requiere soluciones técnicas, sino también una reflexión ética sobre las generaciones presentes y futuras.