The old adage “no good deed goes unpunished” was proved again last week when dozens of unnamed sources in the U.S. foreign aid community attacked Vice President Mike Pence for his role in helping to provide relief to religious minorities in Iraq.

Both current and former USAID staff are — often under the cloak of anonymity — accusing the vice president and his team of directing money toward “unqualified” faith-based nonprofit organizations and potentially violating the Constitution while doing so. Their attacks show either ignorance of the laws they seek to administer or disregard for the public they claim to serve.