Background

• Investigations by the Oversight Committee have revealed significant deficiencies in the preservation of e-mail by the White House and federal agencies. Committee investigations have revealed that during the Bush Administration, numerous White House officials--including Senior Advisor Karl Rove--used e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee, which regularly deleted the e-mails from its servers. E-mails sent by White House officials over these RNC accounts included e-mails concerning official government business. In addition, the White House cannot account for hundreds of days' worth of official White House e-mails sent and received between 2003 and 2005. At the time of these losses, the White House used an e-mail archiving system that a former White House information technology officer described as `primitive.'

• While the problems have been particularly acute under the Bush Administration, other administrations, including President Clinton's, have encountered problems preserving e-mail records.

• To ensure the retention of these important records, H.R. 5811 directs the archivist to establish standards for the capture, management, and preservation of White House e-mails and other electronic messages and to certify that the system meets the requirements established by the archivist.

• Under current law, federal agencies have broad discretion to determine how electronic records and electronic communications are preserved. Committee investigations and the Government Accountability Office have found that many agencies rely on unreliable `print and file' systems for preserving electronic records, including e-mails. As a result, many e-mails that should be saved as federal records may be lost.

• H.R. 5811 directs the Archivist to issue regulations requiring agencies to preserve electronic messages that are records in an electronic format. These regulations must cover, at a minimum, the capture, management, preservation, and electronic retrieval of these electronic records, and must be implemented within four years of the enactment of the Act. (Source: Thomas)

Debate

Country Comparison

Recent Developments

Recent Legislative History

• H.R. 5811 was introduced by Reps. Waxman, Clay, and Hodes on April 15, 2008, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

• The Subcommittee on Information Policy, the Census, and the National Archives held a hearing on H.R. 5811 on April 23, 2008. The witnesses were Linda Koontz, Director, Information Management Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Gary M. Stern, General Counsel, National Archives and Records Administration; Paul M. Wester, Director, Modern Records program, National Archives and Records Administration; and Patrice McDermott, Director, OpentheGovernment.org. The Subcommittee also received written testimony from Dr. Anna Nelson, Distinguished Historian in Residence at American University representing the National Coalition for History.

• The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a business meeting on May 1, 2008, to consider H.R. 5811 and ordered the bill to be reported as amended by voice vote.

Additional Information