Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, March 13, 2025 Real World News
The Trump White House quickly shredded the major media's feeding frenzy over alleged shredding of classified documents at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
ProPublica on Tuesday was the first to obtain and publish an email from USAID's acting director, Erica Carr, which instructs employees to “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.”
Politico cited a senior official at USAID as "instructing a number of the agency’s remaining staff to convene at the agency’s now-former headquarters in Washington on Tuesday for an 'all day' group effort to destroy documents stored there, many of which contain sensitive information."
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that the documents remain available on computer systems.
"This was sent to roughly three dozen employees," Kelly said in a Tuesday night X post regarding Carr’s order. "The documents involved were old, mostly courtesy content (content from other agencies), and the originals still exist on classified computer systems. More fake news hysteria!"
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the State Department had concluded a six-week review and would cancel more than 80% of USAID programs.
Rubio added that the remaining 18% of USAID programs—approximately 1,000—will now be managed by the State Department. The move to transfer that authority, he said, was made in consultation with Congress.
Nearly all of USAID's 4,700 full-time employees were placed on paid administrative leave last month. Subsequently, 1,600 of those positions will be terminated as part of a "reduction in force," according to a memo that was widely distributed to agency staff and later published on the USAID website.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is set to take over USAID's DC office space.
Timely: Defund Fake News
