President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken agree. “Corruption saps economic growth, hinders development, destabilizes governments, undermines democracy, and foments global instability,” their press release announcing the U.S. strategy on countering corruption says. Alas, like so much touched by bureaucracy, the best-intentioned plans end up doing the opposite.

Here, the problem is both the U.S. Agency for International Development and the culture of U.S. embassies. USAID Administrator Samantha Power is adept with press releases and self-promotion but less so with basic management. She retains metrics that gauge USAID programs by money spent rather than goals achieved.