(Tribune News Service) — An unnamed Department of Defense official previously pleaded with her superiors to keep paying Harvard University for a particular national security grant related to biological threats.

And according to court documents, they have — despite the grant’s termination.

In a July 11 filing from one of its federal lawsuits against the Trump administration, Harvard informed the court it had received payment from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — part of the Department of Defense — for the “AMPHORA” program, which stands for Assured Microbial Preservation in Harsh or Remote Areas.

With emerging infectious disease hotspots expected to increase globally within the next 50 years, the program seeks to develop a system without refrigeration “that can preserve any microbe (bacteria, fungus, virus) from any sample, environment, or clinical setting, increasing the DoD’s ability to surveil for emerging threats and protect force health and readiness,” according to the agency’s website.

Despite the grant being listed as terminated beginning May 12, DARPA has since asked Harvard’s AMPHORA researchers to continue testing samples and to update on the project’s progress, the court documents state.

Then on July 8, the government paid Harvard approximately $373,000 on the AMPHORA grant for work conducted by its scientists May 1-31.

According to Harvard, the payment “reinforces” its court argument that “the government’s categorical terminations of research funding were arbitrary and capricious.”

“This new evidence provides further support for Harvard’s arguments,” Harvard wrote in its filing last week.

Earlier court filings in Harvard’s lawsuit disclosed that an unidentified Defense Department official had “pleaded” with her superiors in the Pentagon not to cancel Harvard’s AMPHORA grant because doing so could pose “grave and immediate harm to national security.”

The official said Harvard was the top-performing team in the AMPHORA program, which involves several teams from varying research institutions.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly directed the cancellation of the military grants, and the notification stated the AMPHORA grant “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”

Harvard has inquired with the federal government about whether the AMPHORA grant is in fact still active, but they haven’t received a response, they wrote.

A spokesperson for the Department of Defense said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.

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