WASHINGTON – Some U.S. agencies for International Development Employees are instructed to clear safes and personnel documents classified from the Ronald Reagan building where the agency is housed, according to screenshots from two sources of email.
USAID Staff received an email from Erika Kerr, acting USAID executive director, from 9:30am on Tuesday, directing them to clear classified safety and personnel documents. Shrinking instructions for sensitive documents were first reported by Propublica.
“I shred a lot of documents first and reserve a burning bag for when the shredder is no longer available or when a break is needed,” the email reads. If you need to use a combustion bag, do not overfill. Also make sure you can close the staples on the top to close the combustion bag. The only labels you need for a burn bag are the dark Sharpie “secret” and the words “USAID/(b/io)” when possible. If you need an additional burn bag or Sharpie marker, please let me know or the SEC Infosec team. ”
The documents being ordered, the documents being destroyed may be evidence of sources familiar with instructions on handling USAID records, and multiple court filings against the Trump administration and government aid agencies.
White House Deputy Press Office Anna Kelly said on social media that “the USAID building will soon be occupied by CBP,” and that the email was sent to “about 30 employees.” She argued that the document being destroyed was “old, mostly polite content (from other institutions), and the original still exists in classified computer systems.”
Management officials told CBS News that the action today is part of the process in which U.S. customs and border protections are housed in the building to clean up the work space involved in the transfer. Officials also reflected what Kelly said about the contents of the document.
Of the approximately 30 USAID staff who received the email, all had more than a secret security clearance and no one was there during their administrative leave, officials told CBS News. All staff were appointed by departments related to documents, and documents from a particular department or office where no one had met the specific requirements for processing them were kept accordingly.
Officials said the move was “fully in compliance with the federal record laws.”
USAID staff also received another email around Tuesday and instructed them to come to USAID Annex Offices this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to collect their personal belongings. An email obtained by CBS News said, “Staff will be given 15 minutes and must complete this search and complete deletion of items in time slots only.” Also, the email appears to be inconsistent with other emails regarding how records are processed.
“While collecting items, staff must ensure that appropriate record-keeping practices are adopted in identifying and/or disposing of records in accordance with Federal Records Act and Advertising 502,” the email said.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Forward and Public Citizens’ Litigation Group filed a motion seeking an urgent, temporary restraining order to stop what is called illegal destruction of federal records in USAID.
The State Department has not previously responded to CBS News’ requests for comments on either emails or lists of USAID grants that have been terminated by the State Department. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted from his personal X account, confirming that 83% of the USAID program has been cancelled.
In response to CBS News questions, during a briefing at the State Department of Publications last week, spokesman Tammy Bruce said there is no answer to this yet, whether the full list of shunned grants would be made public. “A lot of Americans are asking about the nature of the details of what’s going on, so she added, “That’s important.”
