State Department Spokesman Ned Price
said the department was advising personnel
to search for and remove social media and
website content featuring civilians because
the safety of Afghan contacts “is of utmost
importance” to the government.
“State Department policy is to only remove
content in exceptional situations like this
one. In doing so, department personnel
are following records retention requirements,”
Price said.
The U.S. Agency for International Development
said in a statement the agencies who operated
in Afghanistan began clearing the websites last
Friday (13) — one day after the decision was
made to send U.S. military to secure the Kabul
airport as the capital collapsed.
“Given the security situation in Afghanistan,
and out of an abundance of caution for the
safety of our staff, partners, and beneficiaries,
we are reviewing USAID public websites and
social media to archive content that could pose
a risk to certain individuals and groups,” the
agency said in an email to The Associated Press.
An official with the Agriculture Department
said a similar scrubbing effort was underway
there. That official spoke on condition of
anonymity because they are not cleared to
speak on the issue.
An Associated Press review of the USDA
website revealed at least seven different links
to Afghanistan-related press releases or blog
posts that, when clicked on, defaulted to a
page declaring “Access denied: You are not
authorized to access this page.”