The staff of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) received orders to destroy classified documents and personal files, according to an email released on Monday afternoon.
The email, sent by Erica Carr, acting executive secretary of USAID, instructed employees to begin destroying the documents on Tuesday morning, in an attempt to "clean" the classified and personnel files at the agency's headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington.
Employees were directed to use paper shredders and, if these were not available, use "burn bags" to destroy the documents.
The email also indicated that the burn bags should be labeled with the words "SECRET" and "USAID/(B/IO)", and that if the bags needed to be closed with staples, they should be properly sealed.
The destruction of these documents could be related to the major acts of corruption in the agency reported by the Trump administration, according to some sources close to the situation.
Organizations like Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group filed a motion to stop what they consider an illegal destruction of federal records at USAID.
In response to these actions, a spokesperson stated that the document destruction was being carried out in accordance with the Federal Records Act and that the documents being destroyed were mainly "courtesy content" and not relevant to court litigation.
They assured that the original documents remained stored in classified systems of the agency.
However, legal experts questioned the legality and appropriateness of this destruction, pointing out that the process is usually carried out only in emergency situations, such as embassy attacks, and not under normal circumstances.
The case has raised concerns among USAID employees and unions, as many of the documents being destroyed could be crucial for investigations that link the agency to the large disbursement of money on progressive causes in different countries around the world and funding to terrorist groups.
