USAID employees were instructed to destroy items in the agency’s “classified safes and personnel documents," per an email sent by the agency's acting leader.

The directive to destroy USAID documents raised questions about how sensitive records are being handled amid the Trump administration’s drive to cut foreign aid.

Some staff at USAID were ordered to destroy classified documents and personnel records, according to a memo from a top official, a move that prompted fresh legal challenges but that an administration official later described as routine.