What’s going on at the soon-to-be defunct U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)? Well, lots of document shredding, but for what purpose, and whether this is standard operating procedure or an attempt to cover up malfeasance, is not clear.
Politico reports that a “senior official” at the troubled agency sent an email to all staff instructing them to destroy “sensitive” documents.
USAID has come under fire from the Trump administration for wasteful spending on international projects that seem to have nothing at all to do with benefiting the United States. Worse, the agency has been funding “woke” projects on transgenderism and more in foreign countries.
Here’s just a short list of the grants the agency has disbursed to foreign countries, according to a summary from the White House:
—$1.5 million for “diversity, equity and inclusion” in Serbia
—$6 million to boost Egypt’s tourist trade
—$47,000 for a “transgender opera” mounted in Colombia
—$32,000 for what’s described as a “transgender comic book” to be published in Peru
—$2 million for sex change operations for the citizens of Guatemala
You get the picture. President Donald Trump has targeted USAID for closure, which sparked a flurry of lawsuits by left-aligned interest groups. As of March 11, 2025, a federal court has ordered the Trump administration to pay out $671 million in USAID money owed to contractors who have already completed projects for the agency. But, it appears the courts recognize the administration’s authority to shut the agency down after making good on its back bills, and that’s exactly what Trump is doing.
That brings us to the order from USAID officials to employees to shred documents. While the media is full of reports on this, it is not yet clear what’s going on. Is this a brazen and illegal attempt by fleeing officials to cover up misdeeds? Or, is it standard operating procedure related to sensitive or classified documents? It’s murky, but a union that apparently represents contractors working for USAID (really?) has asked federal courts to step in to stop the destruction of documents.
According to Politico, a supervisor instructed employees by email to “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.”
It will be at least one or two more days before the fog around this situation clears. Meanwhile X/Twitter users are speculating. Most seem to think it’s “extra-legal”:
This user thinks the alleged burn-order is so brazen it can’t possibly be real:
Other users think this is probably a standard practice when an agency is closing down and it may be blown out of proportion:
What do you think?
