Open Technology Fund asks Inspector General to investigate

The Open Technology Fund is requesting that the US Office of the Inspector General investigate its parent, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), for breaching a firewall provision that is supposed to protect government-funded media agencies from political interference. In a letter to USAGM CEO Michael Pack and the Office of the Inspector General, Open Technology Fund interim CEO Laura Cunningham requests that Pack recuse himself from reviewing the OTF's funding and security matters in order to keep politics out of the process. The letter alleges that USAGM and Pack have attempted to undermine OTF's integrity, security, and effectiveness in ways that would prevent the group, which was established to help advance internet freedom abroad, from achieving its goals. The letter details five areas where it says the firewall — established as a part of the 1994 International Broadcasting Act — has been breached.

1. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF’s independence by firing the group's CEO, Libby Liu, and the OTF's board. The firing of agency heads has driven a bipartisan outcry on Capitol Hill.
2. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's integrity by making false and misleading claims about OTF's security and its compliance as an organization that receives funding from the USAGM.
3. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's security by requesting sensitive information about its projects, including personal identifiable and confidential information about its project partners who operate in highly sensitive environments, while refusing to accept the information via secure channels, instead of email.
4. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's privacy by requesting information about OTF's contracted partners in a rushed manner, not giving the OTF enough time to comply with international laws about sharing data.
5. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's effectiveness by withholding funds while distracting the group with burdensome information requests.