WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Senators Gary Peters, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pressed Secretary of State and Acting USAID Administrator Marco Rubio for information on whether the agency’s directive to shred and burn certain classified documents complied with the Federal Records Act (FRA), the federal law that requires the preservation of government records. The directive, sent out on March 11, instructed staff to clear out classified safes and personnel documents through a combination of shredding and burn bags. The Senators raised concerns about the legality of this directive, particularly as it follows recent staffing changes and grant terminations at the agency.
“While not all federal records are required to be preserved permanently, the FRA requires that records only be disposed of in accordance with an approved records schedule,” wrote the senators. “The email does not make any distinction between categories of federal records and does not make any reference to approved agency records schedules. It is unclear whether additional orders were conveyed by other means.”
“In a court filing last week, attorneys from the Department of Justice asserted that these disposals did not violate the FRA because ‘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,” the senators continued. “This explanation is insufficient.”
Under the law, federal agencies are required to submit potential schedules for disposition of records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which partners with the agencies to determine if and when the documents in question can be destroyed. The determination is based on whether the records possess enough historical or research value to be retained by the government, not on the existence of duplicate copies at other agencies.
In the letter, the Senators requested that Acting Administrator Rubio provide all relevant records disposition schedules, communications regarding the March 11 directive, communications with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and information on the status of USAID personnel records by March 21, 2025. The Senators also reminded USAID officials that unauthorized destruction of federal records could result in penalties including fines, imprisonment, and loss of government office under federal law. They have requested a response by March 28.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
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