Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has led to the cancellation of 83% of its programs.

His statement, posted on X, confirmed that 5,200 contracts were rescinded, eliminating what he described as “tens of billions of dollars” in spending that did not serve U.S. national interests.

“After a six-week review, we are officially canceling 83% of the programs at USAID,” Rubio stated.

“The 5,200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States. In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1,000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department. Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.”

After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID.

The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.

In…

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 10, 2025

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Shortly after Rubio’s announcement, a memo surfaced detailing an apparent directive within USAID instructing remaining staff to destroy documents, including classified materials.

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According to a report from Politico, an internal email from Erica Carr, USAID’s acting executive director, directed remaining employees to spend Tuesday in an “all-day” effort to shred and dispose of documents stored at the agency’s former headquarters in Washington, D.C.

🚨🚨 THIS IS A 5-ALARM FIRE 🚨🚨 Right now, as we speak, today, USAID is shredding and burning the contents of the agency’s classified safes — the key information needed to reconstruct the history of USAID’s weaponization both at home and abroad. THIS MUST BE STOPPED pic.twitter.com/G4uEuUY0yd

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) March 11, 2025

The memo specified the destruction of personnel files and materials stored in “classified safes” at the Ronald Reagan Building.

“Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” Carr’s email instructed.

Employees were further directed to mark the burn bags with “SECRET” and “USAID/B/IO/” in black Sharpie.

The email did not specify a reason for the mass document disposal.

The agency’s headquarters is in the process of being emptied following large-scale layoffs, and the facility is set to be occupied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which recently leased 390,000 square feet of office space in the building.

ProPublica journalist Brett Murphy reported that he also obtained the memo, stating that it came from the agency’s “acting executive secretary.”

Murphy sought legal clarification from national security attorney Kel McClanahan, who said the directive appeared to violate federal law.

“No, it is not [legal],” McClanahan said, referencing the Federal Records Act.

“Classified records are still federal records.”

However, others in the media downplayed concerns over the document destruction process.

Fox News contributor and Spectator editor-at-large Ben Domenech suggested that such actions are routine in government operations.

“This is standard. There’s literally a truck that pulls up and does this for agencies (or that was the case in my tenure).

Digital records are kept, physical records shredded,” Domenech stated.

As speculation grew over the document disposal, the White House responded with a statement from Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly, who dismissed the Politico report.

“More fake news hysteria,” Kelly wrote on X.

The USAID building will soon be occupied by CBP.

This was sent to roughly three dozen employees. 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! https://t.co/MLP84Mvn0t

— Anna Kelly (@AnnaKelly47) March 11, 2025

With USAID now largely dismantled and its remaining programs set to transition under the State Department, the full scope of the agency’s operations—and the nature of the documents being destroyed—remains unclear.

Whether the Trump administration was aware of or authorized this document purge is yet to be confirmed.

However, Rubio’s move to eliminate what he labeled as unnecessary spending marks a significant shift in how foreign aid programs will be managed moving forward.