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With fire and paper shredders, USAID employees are ordered to begin destroying classified documents

2025-03-11 19:10:30Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
With fire and paper shredders, USAID employees are ordered to begin destroying
USAID

Officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) have begun a large-scale destruction of classified documents at their headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building, including shredding and using fire, according to an internal email, The Guardian reports.

The email, sent by Acting USAid Secretary Erica Y Carr, instructs staff on procedures for clearing "classified vaults and personnel documents" through shredding and the use of "burn bags" (destruction by fire) marked "SECRET" throughout the day on Tuesday.

"Cut as many documents as possible at the beginning and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break," Carr wrote in the email, which provides detailed instructions on how to properly seal and label the "burn bags."

With fire and paper shredders, USAID employees are ordered to begin destroying
Email to USAID

A burn bag is a security bag that holds sensitive or classified documents that will be destroyed by fire after a specified period of time. The most common use of burn bags is by government institutions, in the disposal of classified materials.

The timing of this document's submission comes amid ongoing controversy over what is essentially the closure of USAid following the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the independent agency through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE).

Doge is led by Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and he has been tasked with reducing the number of jobs in the federal government and the amount of money it spends. Amid the major turmoil that has gripped the US government as the Musk-led Doge has carried out its activities, USAID has been among the hardest-hit government agencies.

The massive cuts to USAID have affected projects across the globe as a large number of projects have been suspended, closed or have their funding cut. There has been widespread outcry against the move from USAID staff, but also across the international development sector, as they warn of the detrimental impact it will have on some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

When federal agencies are dissolved or restructured, their records are typically transferred to successor agencies or to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in accordance with the Federal Records Act (FRA). During the hasty U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, NARA sent a reminder to safely and legally dispose of sensitive documents.

But compliance with the FRA in this situation is deeply questionable, as the law explicitly prohibits the destruction of government records before their designated retention period - usually a minimum of three years. There is also a lingering concern that it risks permanently eliminating evidence needed for ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and future surveillance investigations.

Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February demanding answers about Doge's access to USAid headquarters and agency records, though they did not specifically address the possible destruction of documents.

It is unclear whether proper data management protocols are being followed during this process, or whether documents that should be preserved are being destroyed.

"If you need additional burn bags or sharpie markers, please let me or the SEC InfoSec team know," the email said.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.


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