Charities Worry Controversial Terror-Screening Plan Could Start Soon

Nonprofit leaders are worried that a controversial plan to vet international charities for terrorism ties could go into effect as early as this fall in a handful of countries, despite their pleas to scrap or modify the screening program. Known as the Partner Vetting System, the program has been a point of concern for international aid groups since it was first announced in July 2007. It would require charities that apply for government money to submit the names of “key individuals,” including employees and trustees to be screened against terrorist watch lists.

Charity officials argue that the program violates the privacy rights of workers and could endanger staff members overseas, who may be suspected of working as intelligence agents of the U.S. government.

A spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which would administer the program, said the agency will work with charities to mitigate any potential harm that might result from the vetting process. He said the time line for introducing the program, and countries where it might be rolled out in the pilot phase, are still being worked out.

Some members of Congress are encouraging the international development agency to put off carrying out the Partner Vetting System until a new leader of USAID can conduct a review of it. That position remains unfilled.

Burden for Charities

A Senate aide familiar with the program stressed the importance of ensuring that money did not get into the hands of terrorists but said the screening program as it is designed now was too burdensome for charities.

“It puts NGO’s in a very awkward and compromised position vis-a-vis their partners overseas, undermines many of their objectives, and thus undermines the position of U.S. foreign aid overall,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions on the program are ongoing.

Several aid groups have indicated they will stop taking government grants if the program goes into effect.

Charity officials also complain that a similar screening process introduced this summer for businesses that receive government grants to fight poverty abroad is more flexible than the one that would apply to charities. Todd Shelton, senior director of public policy and external relations at InterAction, a group that represents 160 international charities, said he worries that the vetting system would be applied to businesses on a case-by-case basis, whereas it would be applied to all charities. That could make it more difficult for charities to compete with businesses for government money, he said.

Mr. Shelton and other charity officials would still like to see the Partner Vetting System abandoned but are increasingly doubtful that will happen. They are seeking more meetings with the administration and awaiting a response to a letter sent in August.

Top priorities include alleviating some of the privacy concerns around the Partner Vetting System and ensuring a degree of transparency in how it is carried out. As the screening process stands now, charities would not find out why the government had denied a grant or whether its terrorist screening turned up problems, Mr. Shelton said.