(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The remaining bureaucrats at the U.S. Agency for International Development have been ordered to get rid of classified safes and personnel documents from its D.C. headquarters—a move that signals the seriousness of President Donald Trump’s plan to reform the controversial and unruly agency.
The order, issued by USAID’s acting executive secretary Erica Carr, followed Trump’s suspension of the agency’s operations after its leadership refused to grant DOGE workers access to internal documents.
Copies of the new order were conveniently leaked to leftist news outlet ProPublica and CBS News on Tuesday. “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” Carr allegedly told bureaucrats.
“The only labeling required on the burn bags are the words ‘SECRET’ and ‘USAID/B/IO)’ in dark sharpie if possible,” she added, instructing staffers to request for burn bags or sharpie if necessary.
The email came from from the agency's acting executive secretary. I asked Kel McClanahan, a national security attorney, if this was legal. He said: "No it is not," citing the Federal Records Act. "Classified records are still federal records."
— Brett Murphy (@BrettMmurphy) March 11, 2025
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio—whom President Donald Trump tapped as acting USAID administrator—announced that 83 percent of the agency’s foreign aid had been canceled. He said that roughly 5,200 contracts had also been canceled because they did not serve—“and in some cases even harmed”—U.S. national security interests.
“In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” Rubio added. “Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.”
Tough, but necessary. Good working with you.
The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept of State.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2025
USAID’s closure was nothing short of a soap opera. Shortly after taking office, Trump announced the creation of DOGE, a federal task force designed to modernize government systems and save billions of tax dollars in waste and fraud.
DOGE agents, acting on Trump’s behalf, showed up at USAID’s headquarters seeking access to documents, only to be met by defiant bureaucrats who aggressively denied them access.
USAID’s action was stunning. Here was a federal agency refusing to comply with orders from Trump, the duly elected president and head of the executive branch. If not Trump, to whom were these bureaucrats accountable?
Faced with this defiance, Trump ordered the agency to be overhauled and transferred to the Department of State. As a result, approximately 4,200 staff members were placed on leave and at least 1,600 employees were fired, according to CBS News.
