Any question about the motives behind President Trump’s decision to fire 18 independent, nonpartisan inspectors general in the middle of the night three weeks ago was answered by this week’s firing of the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development. These firings were designed to impede and deter independent oversight of the Trump administration, putting taxpayer dollars and program performance at risk.

On Monday, USAID Inspector General Paul Martin did precisely what inspectors general are charged with doing. His office made public the results of an independent analysis designed to promote efficiency and to prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse — in this case, in USAID programs and operations.

More specifically, the purpose of this report was to “identify risks and challenges to the safeguarding and distribution of USAID’s $8.2 billion in obligated but undisbursed humanitarian assistance funds following the State Department’s pause on foreign assistance programs and subsequent personnel actions by USAID that have substantially reduced the........

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