\n<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has asked researchers and organizations whose work is conducted overseas to disclose ties to those regarded as hostile, including \u201centities associated with communist, socialist or totalitarian parties,\u201d according to a questionnaire obtained by The New York Times.<\/p>\n
The online survey was sent this week to groups working abroad to research diseases like H.I.V., gather surveillance data and strengthen public health systems. Recipients received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Agency for International Development and other federal sources.<\/p>\n
The questionnaire appears to be very similar to one sent earlier this week t<\/a>o partners of the United States Agency for International Development, which has been all but dismantled by the Trump administration. Both were titled \u201cForeign Assistance Review.\u201d<\/p>\n Recipients were instructed to respond within 48 hours. Some grantees interviewed by The Times feared that impolitic or unsatisfactory answers could lead to cancellation of funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cTaxpayer dollars must not fund dependency, socialism, corrupt regimes that oppose free enterprise, or intervene in internal matters of another sovereign nation,\u201d the questionnaire said.<\/p>\n \u201cA truly prosperous America prioritizes domestic growth, innovation, and economic strength over foreign handouts,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n A spokesman for the White House did not return a request for comment about the survey.<\/p>\n The form asks a series of questions that touch on collaborators, including whether grant recipients work with drug cartels or \u201cgroups that promote mass migration.\u201d<\/p>\n It asks about the impact of programs, such as whether they have an effect on \u201cpromoting religious freedom and combating Christian persecution\u201d in other nations.<\/p>\n It asks grant recipients if they or their organizations collaborate with or have received funding from Russia, Cuba, Iran or China \u2014 including the Confucius Institute,<\/a> which works with China\u2019s Ministry of Education to promote language and cultural exchanges with American students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some federal officials who oversee grants said they were particularly dismayed by a question asking grantees to disavow associations with communist entities. The United States assists with health work in a number of communist countries, including Vietnam.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of my grantees are literally the public health government structures in a communist country,\u201d said one federal official, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution. \u201cThis is painful.\u201d<\/p>\n