US Agency for International Development (USAID) Employees Directed to Destroy and Burn Documents, Records
According to multiple media reports, remaining USAID employees have been instructed to shred and burn secret documents and personnel records. USAID Executive Secretary Erica Carr, in an email, thanked employees for clearing out secret files from the Washington, D.C. office and asked them to meet in the lobby of the building on Tuesday for a day-long disposal action. An internal email, cited by news sources such as Politico and CBS News, states: “Shred as many documents as possible and reserve the incineration bags in case the shredder is not available or needs a break.”
The email did not mention the reason for the destruction of the documents. The White House deputy press secretary, Anna Kelly, stated on Tuesday that the USAID building would soon be occupied by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The email was sent to around three dozen employees, she added and the documents to be destroyed were “old, mostly formal contents (contents from other agencies).” The original documents, however, still exist on other, secret computer systems.
According to several media outlets, citing an internal source, the documents to be destroyed could also be evidence in multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration and the state aid organization.
The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), a union representing USAID employees, also expressed criticism. According to the union’s spokesperson, Nikki Gamer, the union knew of the order to shred the documents. The AFSA stated it was “alarmed” by the reports and warned that such documents could be relevant to ongoing lawsuits related to the termination of USAID employees and the allocation of USAID funds.
US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who leads the recently established “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), have repeatedly accused USAID of misusing taxpayer funds and promoting corruption. In the context of broader efforts to cut federal spending, the agency was instructed to lay off 2,000 employees and put most of the remaining employees on leave.