White House threatens to veto e-mail storage bill

[maddezmom]

Source: Congress Daily

White House threatens to veto e-mail storage billBy Dan Friedman CongressDaily July 9, 2008 Ahead of a scheduled House vote Wednesday, the White House threatened to veto a bill aimed at forcing the president and federal agencies to improve preservation of e-mail records.

House aides said that while they expect the measure to get bipartisan support, it will be considered under regular rules because of the veto threat.

The bill has generated some Republican opposition due to a provision the White House says gives the National Archives and Records Administration new responsibility for overseeing White House record-keeping.

The legislation would upset "delicate separation of powers" created in the 1978 Presidential Records Act and would "require the archivist to intrude, in an excessive and inappropriate manner, into the activities of an incumbent president and his or her staff," the White House said in a Statement of Administration Policy issued Tuesday.

Introduced by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and two committee Democrats, the bill attempts to legislate a fix to problems that have left the Bush White House unable to find hundreds of days' worth of e-mails.


Read more: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40419&dcn=todaysnews

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GAO: Federal e-mail preservation spotty
Published: July 9, 2008 at 10:41

Related StoriesJudge dismisses White House e-mail suit
WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) -- Legislation to standardize how the U.S. government preserves its mounting e-mail communications is sorely needed, a report says.

The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Tuesday that federal officials are inconsistent in how they preserve their e-mail records, creating significant gaps in the public record, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported.

The issue of e-mail preservation came to the fore Wednesday as the U.S. House of Representative prepared to vote on a bill requiring standardization of e-mail record keeping. The use of e-mails a means of communication within the U.S. government is soaring and federal agencies say they are struggling to determine which e-mails can be deleted and which must be preserved as public records, the newspaper said.

The GAO report concluded that current law is allowing broad discretion to the agencies to determine how e-mails are maintained, with quality varying widely.

more:http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/07/09/GAO_Federal_e-mail_preservation_spotty/UPI-48211215614477/

[kimmylavin]

1. Gimme a break.

Why does "If you don't have anything to hide, this shouldn't worry you" only apply to liberals???

[tbyg52]

13. Because they are "us" and we are "them" nt

[WattleBreakfast]

2. This is a great bill, BUT...

This is a fantastic bill, but it does absolutely nothing to uncover or correct the past abuses and flat out violations of the 1978 Presidential Records Act the bush administration has committed over the past 8 years!

I am sick of Congress, making new laws instead of just enforcing the laws already on the books. What about bush axing the email records system put into place by the Clinton administration and not replacing it with anything!. What about Fitzgerald's determination that records he sought were not produced because the bush administration said they were missing? What about the audit that concluded there are essentially years of missing White House communications records missing/lost. (I sincerely apologize for not citing references to these published articles, feel free to post links and I will update the diary.)

Congress, will pass this bill (hopefully), but don't misunderstand this: this bill uncovers and/or corrects nothing that has happened in the past, and (given the bush administration's stated unitary executive theory) it is without logic to suspect that this bill's passing will prevent future violations of record preservation laws.


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[appleannie1]

3. If they override Bush's veto, he will just write a signing statement saying

he has executive privilege to determine if a record should be kept or not. How about they enforce the existing laws on records being kept. Writing new ones solves nothing if no one is willing to enforce them.

[ozymandius]

4. Here's an idea.

Install a utility room with channel splitters that captures every bit of data that passes in and out of the White House and redirects the unencrypted data to the National Archives.

If it's good enough for us citizens through AT&T's channels then it should be good enough for the White House.

[formercia]

7. The technology is already bought and paid for.

but, then, how do you engage in criminality and illegal wars of aggression, knowing all of your electronic records are preserved?

Simple, do it the old fashioned way before electronic messaging.

[paparush]

9. Here here!

And all common Americans should adopt the Cheney Doctrine -

Sir, you have failed to pay your income tax!
SO?

Sir, you have failed to cash your Stimulus Bonus!
SO?

Sir, you have failed to report on your neighbors activities!
SO?

Sir, you are not wearing your flag pin!
SO?

Oh, yes, and we all should switch to Skype and start using PGP for encrypting emails. Maybe the NSA can crack the encryption, but we should at least make the bastards work for it! Lets crank up the BACKGROUND NOISE!

[jtrockville]

11. I like the way you think, ozymandius!

[MiniMe]

5. And what are they going to do about those using the RNC email addresses?

Does this admin do anything that is actually legal?

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. You all know that Congressmen are dying to give this one to Bush.

If they were covering their asses with the FISA bill, they're just going to hand this one to the law-breaker in chief.

George Bush II: The most powerful Lame duck president in history.

[PDittie]

8. Fuck this mf'er and his threats.

Call his fucking bluff you spineless jellyfishes. Find some stones and DO YOUR FUCKING CHECK-AND-BALANCING JOBS.

The reason your fucking approval ratings are 9% is because you keep getting rolled by a 25% lame-duck president, you buncha pussies.

:argh: :grr: :nuke: :banghead: :rant:

[Stinky The Clown]

10. I. Want. These. Motherfuckers. In. Jail.

[Javaman]

12. Can we make that retroactive????? nt