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    • Devex Newswire

    Devex Newswire: USAID shreds and burns classified documents

    USAID staff were instructed to destroy sensitive documents; the clock is ticking on DFC reauthorization; and is the U.N. ready for a woman at the helm?

    By Helen Murphy // 12 March 2025
    Sign up to Devex Newswire today.

    Bureaucracies generally love paperwork — and preserving it. Apparently, that’s not the case with the Trump administration, at least when it comes to USAID.

    Also in today’s edition: Congress debates the future of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and we look at the role of women in the United Nations.

    + Join us at 10 a.m. ET (3 p.m. CET) today for a discussion on blended finance, philanthropy, catalytic capital, and more, and how organizations can navigate and secure these new funding opportunities in this critical moment of funding shifts in development. Register now. This event is exclusive to Devex Pro members. If you aren’t a Pro member yet, start your 15-day free trial.

    Shred alert

    This is a preview of Newswire
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    USAID staff members were told to shred and burn classified and personnel documents at the agency’s former headquarters in Washington, D.C. yesterday — an order raising legal red flags. The American Foreign Service Association warns this could violate federal records laws, especially amid lawsuits over USAID’s dismantling.

    “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” wrote Erica Y. Carr, acting executive secretary at USAID, in an email obtained by Devex. Staff members were told to label burn bags “SECRET” and “USAID/B/IO” in Sharpie markers.

    Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group promptly filed a motion for an emergency temporary restraining order to stop the destruction of federal records.

    “The mass destruction of federal records is not just unlawful—it’s a blatant and calculated attempt to obstruct accountability and cripple the ability to restore USAID’s vital mission as we pursue every legal option,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, in a statement. “Federal records belong to the American people, not to any administration looking to cover its tracks.”

    Anna Kelly, the White House deputy press secretary, posted on the social media platform X that the email 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.”

    This comes as USAID is gutted — headquarters closed, projects axed, staff recalled, and partners unpaid. “I do not see how this follows protocol. There are a lot of rules around documents. Especially classified,” a USAID staffer who was put on administrative leave tells Devex.

    Scoop: USAID staff instructed to shred and burn classified documents

    Finance, bros

    The U.S. Congress kicked off the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation reauthorization talks with a rare show of bipartisanship, as the agency nears its $60 billion lending cap and faces an Oct. 1 deadline to have its mandate reupped. Lawmakers are pushing to double its cap to $120 billion or more, with Republican Rep. Young Kim calling the process “urgent” and stressing the need to keep DFC “agile, effective, and aligned with America's national security priorities.”

    The House passed a reauthorization bill last year, but the Senate stalled. A key hurdle? How DFC’s equity investments are classified — they’re currently treated as grants, limiting its ability to scale. Some lawmakers want them scored like loans, but budget officials aren’t on board, Devex Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger writes.

    Witnesses, including former Rep. Ted Yoho and former Overseas Private Investment Corporation CEO Robert Mosbacher, pushed for expanding investments, raising the spending cap, and fixing equity scoring. They also highlighted USAID’s role in finding DFC investment opportunities, despite limited staff abroad. Yoho defended USAID’s past work, saying: “They're often the ones that are boots on the ground that invite in that private equity.”

    And with China ramping up global investments, Rep. Sheri Biggs underscored DFC’s role in countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative, calling it “America’s primary vehicle for soft power abroad.”

    Read: Congressional hearing kicks off DFC reauthorization efforts

    Background reading: Five years in, DFC navigates growth, reform, and global competition

    Vought early and often

    Despite how relatively tiny these aid agencies are, the Trump administration has clearly set the U.S. African Development Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation in its crosshairs.

    Yesterday, Trump nominated Project 2025 architect Russell Vought — current head of the White House’s budget office — to the boards of both USADF and IAF.

    Vought’s name surfaced on the Senate’s calendar on Monday, along with the nominations of two other political appointees: Kenneth Jackson, who is now serving as USAID’s assistant to the administrator for management and resources; and Laken Rapier, who is noted as a “senior FO advisor,” or front office adviser, in internal USAID documents.

    For decades, IAF has provided small grants to civil society organizations in Latin America, while USADF has funded small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs, businesses, and groups in Africa.

    Trump appointed Peter Marocco, the acting deputy administrator of USAID, as president and board chair of both organizations. IAF has now virtually disappeared, while USADF President and CEO Ward Brehm temporarily blocked Marocco’s appointment by taking him to court.

    The initial results of that court case weren’t promising, though they weren’t definitive either, my colleague Elissa Miolene reports. While a federal judge yesterday cleared the way for the Trump administration to shift the leadership of USADF and significantly downsize its operations, Judge Richard Leon asked both legal teams to file a proposed briefing schedule for a preliminary injunction by March 12. It’s a route Brehm’s team had already said they would be taking.

    It’s not yet clear what will happen between now and a possible preliminary injunction, and whether Brehm will lead USADF until then. That being said, the judge did not deny Brehm was the president, and in his court order, Leon stated that he had found no existing statutes that would permit temporary appointments — such as Trump’s appointment of Marocco — to USADF’s board.

    Read: Trump taps Project 2025's Russell Vought to USADF, IAF boards

    Read more: Judge rejects USADF chief’s bid to block Trump’s leadership shakeup

    The UN's glass ceiling

    With International Women’s Day behind us, it’s worth asking: How much has really changed for women in global leadership? A new GWL Voices report shows progress at the United Nations and other international bodies — with more women in senior roles. However, governments are still lagging, and the U.N.'s top job remains seemingly out of reach.

    The numbers are stark. Since 1945, just 208 of 2,800 UN ambassadors have been women. Some countries — China, France, Russia — have never appointed one. Boardrooms aren’t much better: Women held just 29% of governing board positions in 2024.

    In 2016, a strong slate of women — Helen Clark, Susana Malcorra, and Kristalina Georgieva — vied for the secretary-general position at the U.N. However, the U.N. Security Council’s power players picked António Guterres. Twice. Now, GWL Voices is rallying behind #MadamSecretaryGeneral for 2026, with potential candidates such as Mia Mottley of Barbados, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, and María Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador.

    But there’s backlash. Trump’s new anti-DEI executive order has the U.S. pushing to soften U.N. commitments to female leadership, while Russia wants them gone entirely. “We are witnessing an aggressive backlash against gender equality,” Guterres warns.

    Read: Is the world ready for a woman at helm of the United Nations?

    Status: Pending

    From the U.S. DEI rollbacks and U.K. aid cuts to rising violence in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, challenges to women’s rights are mounting, writes Baishali Chatterjee, global gender justice adviser at Christian Aid, in an opinion piece for Devex.

    As the Commission on the Status of Women marks 30 years since the Beijing Declaration, women still bear the brunt of economic inequality. That means, she says, that CSW must evolve — a stronger platform for feminists, real accountability for states, and urgent policy shifts. Progressive tax policies and fairer financial systems could fund critical services and ease the burden on women.

    Partnering with ACT Alliance, Christian Aid is pushing faith leaders and grassroots activists to demand action. Leaders at CSW69 must deliver on their commitments — or be complicit in the rollback of women’s rights, Chatterjee says.

    Opinion: How we make this UN conference on women’s rights count

    In other news

    The World Health Organization is providing essential equipment worth $750,000 to the Democratic Republic of Congo to improve vaccination coverage in remote communities where preventable diseases persist. [UN News]

    Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face a surge in crime as hunger and malnutrition intensify following U.N. warnings of imminent food ration cuts due to funding shortfalls. [DW]

    EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas vows to continue supporting Ukraine and promoting global cooperation despite the Trump administration’s policies. [The Independent]

    Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.

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    About the author

    • Helen Murphy

      Helen Murphy

      Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.

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    The Trump EffectTrump taps Project 2025's Russell Vought to USADF, IAF boards

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    The Trump EffectPeter Marocco resurfaces to cancel nearly 50 more grants at USADF

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