The Trump Administration has given Itself the monaker “The most transparent administration in historyIt seems like it’s an “in name only” kind of thing, because the New York Times Reports That a Senior Administration Official at the US Agency for International Development – The Agency that has been stripped for parts by elon musk and the extramely cloak and dagger department of government Employees to start Emptying Safes used to store classified documents and personnel files and shred or burn them.
The message (see email below) was delivered to the agency’s remaining staffers by Erica Y. Carr, Usaid’s Acting Executive Secretary. She Told Workers to “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder become unavailable or needs a break.” Per the timeThe documents getting prepaped for the shredder could potentially control information that would be released to Ongoing legal challenges to the trump administration over its attempts to freeze aid and dismantle the agency – Efforts that was recently Deemed a likely violation of the constitution By a federal judge. So it seems like a transparent attempt at destroying evidence, which I guess counts for something.
The shred and burn initial may Violate Federal Law. The American Foreign Service Association, A Union That Represts Diplomats, Warned That The Destruction of Documents May Violate The Federal Records Act, which Requishes AGENCAES to Abpten requirements. Under the law, printed documents are required to be saved in a digital format before being destroyed –and it’s not clear that there has been any efforts to digitizes Or into the burn bags.
Usaid isn’t alone in its apparent efforts to obfuscate access to documents. Dog, which is responsible in large part for gutting usaid, has been trying to operate in secret as much as possible. Elon musk has Thrown his fits Over Members of His Staff Being Named in Public – A Thing That Would Be Standard for Basically Any Other Government Agency. And for the entryty of its operation thus far, dog has ignored freedom of information act (Foia) requests by Claiming that it is immune from the process By arguing that it is a “presidestical records entity“That serves as a shield against public disclosure.
That might be changing -or at least, it should be. This week, a District Court Judge Ruled That dog likely is covered by foia and that “The public would be irreparably harmed by an indefinite delay in Unearthing the records.” Just how will this dog will go along with this is it to be seen. Government agencies crtainly have ways of skirting requests with denials, redactions, and foot-dragging. But legally, it seems dog does have to complete – a thing a transparent administration should well welcome, right?