“Federal records are national assets. They are essential to Government transparency and accountability, and the people who use Federal records American citizens, Government officials, researchers must have confidence in their integrity, authenticity, and reliability. Towards this ideal, a number of laws and regulations are in place to govern the creation, maintenance, and disposition of Federal records. Agency employees at all levels, and in all aspects of their work, are required to practice proper Federal records management. They have to document their actions (and by extension the actions of the Government), retain records in a usable format for as long as necessary, and ensure the preservation and availability of permanent records. Agencies must have robust records management programs, with leadership and support from senior officials, and professional staff and adequate resources, to help their employees do this.”
Nextgov: “After investigating itself for almost a year, the Justice Department reported to the National Archives and Records Administration that it is unable to determine whether any e-mails related to its notorious 2002 “torture memos” were improperly destroyed. The department’s finding, which it delivered to NARA in February, appears to close a troubling case of lax records management by a federal agency. Officials at NARA accepted the explanation of the Justice Department’s chief records keeper of why thousands of e-mails vanished when they were needed for an investigation and closed the agency’s examination of the matter.”
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