The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas authorized by the Congress in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The Congress updates this authorization through annual funds appropriation acts, and other legislation. Although technically an independent federal agency, USAID operates subject to the foreign policy guidance of the President, Secretary of State, and the National Security Council. USAID's Administrator works under the direct authority and foreign policy guidance of the Secretary of State.

USAID seeks to "extend a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country." USAID's stated goals include providing "economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States". It operates in Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Eurasia.

Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American attorney and editor of the Correo del Orinoco International, a web- and print-based newspaper which is financed by the Venezuelan government. In a 2011 profile in the New York Times she was described as "one of the most prominent fixtures of Venezuela’s expanding state propaganda complex," and her newspaper as "Venezuela's equivalent of the Cuban newspaper Granma". "I'm a soldier for this revolution," she told the New York Times.

Golinger is the author of several books on Venezuela's relationship with the United States. She is an outspoken supporter of Venezuela's socialist president Hugo Chávez; As of May 2011 she serves as a foreign policy advisor to the Venezuelan government. Chávez has called her La novia de Venezuela ("The Girlfriend of Venezuela"). Golinger is a writer at Venezuelanalysis.com, and according to the National Catholic Reporter in 2004 was "head of the pro-Chávez Venezuela Solidarity Committee in New York". Her website, venezuelafoia.info, aims to shed light on what she calls links between U.S. government agencies and Venezuelan organizations by publishing documents obtained using the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Rajiv “Raj” Shah (born March 9, 1973) is an American politician who is the currently the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He was confirmed by the Senate on December 24, 2009, replacing acting chief Alonzo Fulgham. In this capacity, he has led USAID in efforts to provide relief to the earthquake victims in Haiti and to flood victims in Pakistan.

Prior to his appointment at USAID, Shah worked in a range of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation including Director of Agricultural Development, Director of Financial Services, leader of the Strategic Opportunities initiative and manager of the Foundation’s $1.5 billion commitment to the Vaccine Fund. He also came up with the idea for the International Finance Facility for Immunization to transform the global system of vaccine financing, and worked to secure donor commitments of more than $5 billion for this facility. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Shah was a health care policy advisor on the Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000 and a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's transition committee on health.