Elon Musk, President Trump’s government efficiency lead, previously stated that destroying evidence is a crime.
Erica Carr, the acting executive secretary of USAID, has instructed remaining staff to destroy sensitive documents held at the agency’s former Washington, DC headquarters, according to an internal email.
President Trump and Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have frequently accused USAID, the primary US agency funding political projects overseas, of misusing taxpayer funds and promoting corruption. As part of wider initiatives to reduce federal spending, the agency was forced to dismiss 2,000 employees and place the majority of the remaining staff on leave.
According to an email initially obtained by ProPublica, Carr instructed the remaining employees to gather on Tuesday for an “all-day” effort focused on clearing out classified safes and personnel files at the Ronald Reagan Building. Employees were advised to prioritize shredding documents, and to use burn bags sparingly.
“Shred as many documents as possible first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” the email stated. “The only required label on the burn bags is ‘SECRET’ and ‘USAID/(B/IO)’ written with a dark Sharpie, if possible. Contact me or the SEC InfoSec team if you need more burn bags or Sharpie markers.”
USAID’s document handling procedures are already under scrutiny. Last month, two of the agency’s security officials were placed on administrative leave after they allegedly refused to allow a team of DOGE auditors access to classified materials.
According to an AP report last month, which cited an internal White House memo and court filings, the Trump administration intends to eliminate 90% of USAID contracts, totaling $54 billion. Government funding for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has also been frozen. Despite being officially a US State Department-funded nonprofit that distributes grants to pro-democracy initiatives internationally, the NED has long been accused of functioning as a CIA front for regime change operations.
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