Top International Red Cross official says he’s ‘not worried’ of Trump cut to funding

A top official at the International Committee of the Red Cross says he’s confident Washington will remain the organization’s top donor despite President Trump’s promise to dramatically cut America’s USAID and State Department budgets.

“I’m not worried,” ICRC Director of Operations Dominik Stillhart told The Washington Times in an exclusive interview Thursday, asserting that there is “very strong bipartisan support” in Washington for his organization and “no reason to think this is going to change any time soon.”

Mr. Stillhart added that he’s “pretty confident” the Trump administration will deliver on $400 million in annual funding to the ICRC, the leading international organization for humanitarian assistance for people in nearly every conflict zone around the world.

Mr. Stillhart took care during a wide-ranging interview with The Times not to criticize the Trump administration, including on the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

President Trump made international headlines during his first State of the Union speech Tuesday night by announcing he’d signed an executive order to keep long-controversial prison for suspected terrorists open at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

The president called for the prison, which has a current population of less than 50 prisoners — down from a high of nearly 800 a decade ago — to be filled with new suspects captured by U.S. military forces and intelligence services around the world.

Rights organizations such as the American Civil Liberties sharply criticized the president’s move.

But Mr. Stillhart stayed neutral on the matter. He suggested the ICRC, which has made more than 100 visits to Guantanamo since 2002 to inspect detainee treatment there, has issues with the “legal limbo” surrounding the prison. But he stressed the ICRC accepts the Trump administration’s policy decisions as long as the organization continues to have access to monitor detainee conditions and treatment.

“Whether they keep the place open or not, this is not for us to make any comments,” Mr. Stillhart said. “Our concern is about conditions and treatment.”

He added that Mr. Trump’s executive order provides “clarity and predictability” of what is likely ahead for Guantanamo operations.

The ICRC operations director is in Washington this week as part of his annual funding appeals visits to donor countries around the world. After the United States, the second largest donor is the United Kingdom, followed by the European Union, Germany and Switzerland.