U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced Wednesday that he has eliminated a USDA contract worth $400,000 that was approved by political appointees of former President George W. Bush in the last days of his administration.

Politico’s Josh Gerstein reports that the former Iowa governor at first did not offer any details about the canceled contract or what it may have entailed, but later said it involved Stan Johnson, a former vice provost of Iowa State University who now serves as assistant to the dean at the University of Nevada at Reno’s College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources.

“I didn’t see any value to USDA from it. I will tell you it was rather startling to see that a substantial amount of money had already been spent on foreign travel under circumstances we did not think was appropriate,” [Vilsack] said.

Johnson reportedly did not return Politico’s email seeking a comment.