Officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have embarked on a significant destruction of classified documents at their headquarters in the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. Internal communications indicate that staff have been instructed to use shredders and 'burn bags' marked 'SECRET' for the disposal of sensitive materials.

An internal email sent by acting USAID Secretary Erica Y. Carr outlines the procedures for clearing out 'classified safes and personnel documents,' emphasizing the need to shred documents first and reserve burn bags for instances when the shredder becomes unavailable.

Detailed instructions on how to seal and label the burn bags were also included in this correspondence.

This document purge occurs in the context of considerable turmoil within the agency, which has faced significant budget cuts and reorganization efforts under the Trump administration's initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

This initiative, led by billionaire Elon Musk, aims to reduce the number of federal jobs and curtail spending across various agencies, with USAID reported to be among the hardest hit.

The agency has seen numerous projects paused or defunded, raising alarms within the international development sector regarding potential adverse impacts on vulnerable populations worldwide.

Observers have criticized the administration's approach, citing the potential disruptions to essential services and aid programs.

In scenarios where federal agencies are dissolved or restructured, existing records typically are transferred to successor organizations or stored with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in compliance with the Federal Records Act (FRA).

NARA had previously issued reminders regarding the lawful disposal of sensitive documents, particularly during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

The legality of the current document destruction efforts remains questionable, as the FRA explicitly prohibits the premature destruction of government records, which generally must be retained for a minimum of three years.

There are concerns that such actions could erase evidence needed for ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and undermine future oversight investigations.

Additionally, USAID’s Office of the Inspector General has initiated an investigation regarding the agency's oversight of Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, indicating ongoing scrutiny of operational transparency.

Earlier this year, Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee formally requested clarification from Secretary of State Marco Rubio concerning DOGE’s access to USAID records, although the issue of document destruction was not directly addressed.

The state department has not provided a response to inquiries related to this situation.