Usaid Official Tells Staffers: Shred And Burn Your Documents

A senior official at USAID instructed a number of the agency’s remaining staff to convene at the agency’s now-former headquarters in Washington on Tuesday for an “all day” group effort to destroy documents stored there, many of which contain sensitive information.

The materials earmarked for destruction include contents of the agency’s “classified safes and personnel documents” at the Ronald Reagan Building, said an email sent by USAID’s acting executive director, Erica Carr, and obtained by POLITICO.

“Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” the email said. Carr instructed staff to label the burn bags with the words “SECRET” and “USAID/B/IO/” (agency shorthand for “bureau or independent office”) in dark Sharpie.

The email didn’t provide any reason for the document destruction. The building is being emptied out after mass layoffs, which may have disrupted routine document destruction timetables. Customs and Border Protection is planning to move into the USAID facility, having rented 390,000 square feet of office space in the building last month.

The effort also underscores the tumultuous way in which the Trump administration is dismantling an agency that once managed a $40 billion annual budget and had more than 10,000 staff around the world.

Efforts by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency last month to access secure computer systems at USAID — including information about employees’ security clearances — triggered an uproar at the agency that prompted the administration to place two of the agency’s security staff on administrative leave. A DOGE spokesperson subsequently said that there was no improper access to classified material.

The document purge raised questions about whether any of the materials should be archived or otherwise retained for legal and historical reasons.

Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the White House, downplayed such concerns in a social media post late Tuesday.

"This was sent to roughly three dozen employees," Kelly wrote. "The documents involved were old, mostly courtesy content (content from other agencies), and the originals still exist on classified computer systems. More fake news hysteria!"

A former USAID staffer confirmed the veracity of the email and described the destruction of agency documents as unprecedented.

“I’ve never seen something like this — en masse. Everyone with a safe is supposed to keep it up to date and destroy documents when they no longer need to be stored. Sometimes security will check your safe and tell you if you have to clean out old material,” said the former staffer, who was granted anonymity due to fear of possible reprisals by the Trump administration.

USAID has been at the epicenter of Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk’s visions of a smaller federal workforce. Most of USAID’s personnel have been laid off or placed on administrative leave. USAID staffers are battling the changes in courts, with mixed results.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this week that more than 80 percent of USAID’s programs have been canceled, and the remaining ones will be administered by the State Department.