A powerful Senate committee has ordered for review of all facts and documents related to the secret ‘Cuban Twitter’ programme of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), headed by Raj Shah, the highest ranking Indian-American in Barack Obama Administration.
“I’d like to get a full sense of all your democracy programmes, beyond the Internet, as well, because we’re going to judge all of those in context,” Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Shah during a Congressional hearing yesterday.
Menendez, who said he supported the Cuban Twitter network known as ZunZuneo, said he may ask for separate reviews by other auditing agencies, including inspectors general and the Government Accountability Office.
As part of the investigation, Menendez said the committee also wants any messages the government or its contractors transmitted to subscribers in Cuba.
Those users were never were told about the role of the US Government.
“When it comes to the issue of Cuba or your work in any closed society, I do not believe that USAID’s actions to promote “resilient, democratic societies that are able to realise their potential” are, in any way, a “cockamamie idea“,” Menendez said.