As the USAID is clarified, employees would tell employees to use crushers, burn bags in documents
A senior official of the United States Agency for the International Development of the Enessado sent an email on Tuesday to the remaining office leaders with guidance on “Cleaning our classified safes and personnel documents” at the headquarters of the Washington Help Agency, DC, according to a copy of the email obtained by ABC News.
The message urged officials to “destroy so many documents first” and “reserve burns bags for when the crusher is not available or needs a break,” according to email, sent by Erica Carr, the interim executive secretary.
“The only required labeling in the burns bags are the ‘secret’ and ‘USAID/(b/io)’ words in Dark Sharpie, if possible,” said the email.
It was not clear immediately why the message was sent, but some current and previous officials of the USAID speculated that it has to do with the cleaning of the office space that is expected to be taken by customs and the border patrol, such as Elon Musk, the head of the Government’s efficiency department, announced in X last month.
Musk, who last month said, without evidence, that “Usaid is a criminal organization. The time to die” has supervised the dismantling of the agency.
The defenders of the Aid Organization said that it serves as a crucial partner in fighting mortal diseases, famine and humanitarian relief in some of the poorest parts in the world. The Trump administration has fired thousands of workers and ordered a freezing of expenses in programs and subsidies worldwide
A person familiar with USAID’s work said that “specialized crushing and burns bags are standard procedures to destroy classified impressions and notes.” But the person added that this seems to be a “poor quality process” that could be in conflict with the Federal Registries Lawwhich dictates that federal agencies must consult the National Archive before destroying documents.
Taxes are placed below the seal covered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at its headquarters in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025.
Mandel and/AFP
Nor is it clear if those ordered to destroy these records have adequate authorization to review them before determining if they should be willing.
“The event will take place all day” on Tuesday, email said.
The directive to destroy classified records occurred one day after the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced plans to cancel 83% of the USAID programs and move the remaining work to “be administered more effectively under the State Department.”
Doge representatives, the State Department and USAID did not respond to the requests for ABC News comments.
As news reports about the Directive arose on Tuesday, the American Federation of Government employees, a union that is demanding the Trump administration for its cuts to the federal workforce, asked a federal judge to intervene and prevent the agency from “destroying documents with potential pertinence to this litigation.”
“This directive suggests rapid destruction of the registers of the agency on a large scale that could not plausibly involve a reasoned evaluation of the retention of records for the relevant documents under the [Federal Records Act] Or in relation to this ongoing litigation, “said the motion.
