The Department of Justice has batted down accusations of document destruction at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) after an internal agency directive apparently ordered the burning and shredding of classified records as the Trump administration forges ahead with dismantling the agency.
Attorneys for the Justice Department claimed that “one out-of-context email” reported on Tuesday created a misapprehension that an “indiscriminate purge” was taking place.
“Trained USAID staff sorted and removed classified documents in order to clear the space formerly occupied by USAIDfor its new tenant. The removed classified documents had nothing to do with this litigation,” wrote DOJ trial attorney Michael Clendenen in a Wednesday filing in DC federal court.
“They were copies of documents from other agencies or derivatively classified documents, where the originally classified document is retained by another government agency and for which there is no need for USAID to retain a copy,” Clendenen went on.
“Any documents pertaining to current classified programs were retained, as were all personnel records and any document that must be retained under the Federal Records Act (FRA),” he said.
The attorney added that USAID would also inform associations for foreign services officers and contractors who are suing the agency before destroying any more documents.
The American Foreign Service Association and the Personal Services Contractor Association, representing USAID staff and contractors, have asked the DC federal court to place a temporary restraining order on Trump officials operating at the mostly dismantled federal agency.
The DOJ argued in its filing that the order will not be necessary since officials are not violating the Federal Records Act, nor have the plaintiffs demonstrated that ousted USAID staffers were suffering irreparable harm due to potential evidence being destroyed.
In a Tuesday email to staffers, USAID acting executive director Erica Carr had called for an “all day” effort to help destroy sensitive agency documents at the all-but-shuttered headquarters in Washington.
“Thank you for your assistance in clearing our classified safes and personnel documents,” began the email, which bore a USAID logo.
“Shred as many documents first,” the email continued, adding that staffers should stuff remaining classified material into designated “burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.”
Staffers at the Ronald Reagan Building were also told to write “secret” on the burn bags with a marker.
The email did not elaborate on why the documents should be destroyed after the abrupt shutdown of the 64-year-old agency.
The State Department, which is absorbing much of USAID’s functions, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
President Trump quickly moved to start dismantling USAID after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) flagged widespread waste.
The Trump administration has ended 83% of USAID’s humanitarian and development programs abroad — pulling all but a few hundred staffers off the job and shuttering the agency’s main office.
News of the classified documents at USAID emerged last month when the agency’s top two security officials were put on leave by the Trump administration after they refused to grant DOGE workers access to the material.
With Post wires
