larry johnson has some info about the cia, usaid and the deep state;

 Recent revelations that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) spent $5 billion in 2024 in Ukraine was accompanied by news that many Ukrainian media outlets had to cease operations because of lack of funds once Trump froze the program.

One of Ukraine’s most prominent investigative media outlets, Bihus Info, calculated that thanks to its investigations, which uncovered corruption in the Ukrainian army and government, around 1.2bn billion hryvnia ($29m) had been saved and returned to the state budget. . . .

Bihus Info, which gets around two-thirds of its total funding from the US, turned to readers to seek emergency support to continue operations. Many other major Ukrainian independent media did likewise.

This same report tries to downplay the importance of USAID’s support for intelligence operations — i.e., propaganda — by insisting that only a pittance of USAID’s $5 billion budget in Ukraine was spent on media. The rest, we are told, was for “economic development.” I think that is bullshit.

When I joined the CIA in 1985, there was a strict ban on the CIA’s Operations side of the outfit using USAID for cover or for operations. I double-checked this with a buddy, who retired as a CIA Chief of Station in the early 2000s, and he confirmed that any use of USAID was proscribed.

Sometime during the Presidency of George W. Bush, that prohibition was removed (or ignored) and the CIA and USAID off-again relationship was back on...........more.........