[1] It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure of U.S. foreign assistance programs, legally distinguished military from nonmilitary aid, and, through executive order by President John F. Kennedy Jr., resulted in a new agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to administer nonmilitary economic assistance programs.

Following its enactment by Congress on September 4, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Act into law on November 3, 1961, issuing Executive Order 10973 detailing the reorganization.

In order to remove a country from the application of this provision, the President must determine and report to Congress that such action is important to the national security of the United States.

[6][7] On December 14, 2023, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a privileged resolution invoking Section 502(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act,[8] calling on the State Department to investigate Israeli crimes against humanity in its conduct of the war in Gaza.

[17] In 1993 the governments of Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Morocco, and Oman and five North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries benefited from this program.

[19] In February 2024 during the congressional gridlock over the 2024 United States federal budget Supplemental appropriations legislation a journalist with Forbes suggested the use of this program to unblock DPICM munitions to supply Ukraine, as it only needed presidential approval for zero-cost surplus items.