The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) instructed its Washington staff to shred and burn documents Tuesday, an email obtained by NBC News reveals, as the Trump administration’s bid to dismantle the agency faces mounting legal challenges.
The directive, issued by Acting Executive Secretary Erica Carr, has ignited alarm among former employees, unions, and legal experts, who warn it could obliterate evidence critical to lawsuits aiming to reverse the administration’s actions.
“Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” Carr wrote in the email, thanking staff for “assistance in clearing our classified safes and personnel documents.”
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Sent to an unknown number of recipients—later estimated by an administration official at three dozen—the order coincided with a flurry of emergency motions from groups fighting to halt USAID’s closure, including one filed Tuesday afternoon to stop the document destruction.
“Defendants are, as this motion is being filed, destroying documents with potential pertinence to this litigation,” the filing from the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), Oxfam America, and other unions argued.
They cautioned that losing records could cripple USAID’s ability to rebuild if courts rule in their favor, noting, “Destruction of records that contain information about the agency’s operations may make it extraordinarily difficult—if not impossible—to recreate and rebuild agency programming.”
By Tuesday evening, a joint status report showed the government agreeing to pause further destruction of documents at USAID’s Ronald Reagan Building headquarters, pending notice to plaintiffs and court review. The extent of prior destruction remains unclear, though the government claimed no personnel records were touched. It promised to detail “which documents were and were not destroyed” by 4 p.m. Wednesday, with U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ordering plaintiffs to respond by Thursday morning.
An administration official downplayed the directive, telling NBC News the targeted materials were “courtesy content”—documents shared by other agencies, not originals held in classified systems.
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“No documents relevant to litigation are classified—therefore, they are not part of this directive,” the official said, adding that the purge aligns with vacating the building for Customs and Border Patrol use. “These are very old documents. They are in complete compliance with the Federal Records Act of 1950.”
Legal experts and former officials aren’t convinced. Harold Koh, a State Department legal adviser under Obama, called the move abnormal outside emergencies like an embassy siege.
“The priority is preservation for later consultation and continuity of sound policy,” Koh said to NBC News, citing a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Amir Ali—upheld by the Supreme Court—that bars Trump from blocking congressionally approved aid funds. “Documentation showing how funding was authorized and appropriated should be preserved until the funds are fully expended,” he added.
Kel McClanahan of National Security Counselors likened the scene to a panicked embassy evacuation, not a routine cleanup. “This is slash-and-burn mode and not leaving any evidence behind that could disprove their narrative,” he said, questioning why sensitive records were in safes if merely “excess.” He’s appealed to the National Archives to intervene, arguing that only fully digitized records could be legally destroyed under the Federal Records Act—a standard he doubts is met here.
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AFSA, which joined Monday’s lawsuit to block USAID’s shutdown, decried the directive as a transparency threat. “Federal law is clear: the preservation of government records is essential to accountability and the integrity of the legal process,” a spokesperson said, warning of “serious legal consequences” for unlawful destruction. A former USAID official, speaking anonymously to NBC, called it unprecedented: “USAID never gave their lease away and had to evacuate their headquarters before.”
The Trump administration’s assault on USAID has been swift and severe. In February, crews stripped signage from its headquarters, and staff got 15-minute slots to retrieve belongings. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday on X that 83% of USAID programs—5200 contracts worth billions—are canceled, aligning with Trump’s “America First” overhaul. Critics, including congressional Democrats, decry it as illegal without congressional consent, while lawsuits pile up.
As Judge Nichols weighs the document dispute, the stakes are high: lost records could doom efforts to resurrect USAID, leaving its global humanitarian legacy—and America’s soft power—in tatters. For now, the shredders are silent, but the fight over what’s already gone is just beginning.
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