Washington, DC [US], March 12 : A senior official at USAID directed the agency's remaining staff to be present at the agency's now-former headquarters in Washington on Tuesday for an "all day" group effort to destroy documents that are present there, many of which include sensitive information, a report by Politico stated.
The materials which have been earmarked for destruction include the agency's "classified safes and personnel documents" at the Ronald Reagan Building, Politico reported, citing an email sent by USAID's acting executive director, Erica Carr.
"Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break," the email reads.
According to the report, Carr directed employees 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 did not include any reason for destroying the document. The building is being vacated after mass layoffs, which may have caused disruption to routine document destruction timetables. Customs and Border Protection is planning to move into the USAID facility and rent 390,000 square feet of office space in the building in February.
The effort also demonstrates the tumultuous way in which the Trump administration is dismantling the USAID, which once managed a USD 40 billion annual budget and had over 10,000 employees around the world.
Efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access secure computer systems at USAID triggered an uproar at the agency, which led to the administration placing two of the agency's security staff on administrative leave, the report added. Subsequently, a DOGE spokesperson said there was no improper access to classified material.
A former USAID employee has confirmed the authenticity of the mail and termed the destruction of agency documents unprecedented, Politico reported.
A former staffer, on condition of anonymity said, "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."
USAID has been at the epicentre of Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk's visions of a smaller federal workforce. The majority of USAID employees have been laid off or put on administrative leave. USAID employees are fighting changes in courts, with mixed outcomes, as per the Politico report.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that over 80 percent of USAID's programs have been cancelled while the US State Department will administer the remaining ones.
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