on issues for the national archives and records administration the purpose of today's hearing is to examine issues and president obama's administration should consider in selecting the next archive as of the united states of america we will consider several important topics including the strategical plan the freedom of information act the presidential library of government information using twenty first century tools it is this committee that our hearing today will provide a president with some valuable information that he can use in selecting the next archivist before we go to our witnesses i would like to address the recent findings inspector general on the louse of records the nara inspector general has reported a serious security breach at the national archives concerning certain clinton administration documents chairman talha stated the committee has issued on the matter that the committee will do everything possible to protect the integrity of the continuing value to the american people some of these records contain highly sensitive information and these records must be secured national security and personally identifiable information as well the effectiveness of the archives as protector of the records under its control is a piece of the national security puzzle this is why i'm so troubled by the pow the pattern of careless handling of sensitive material by the archives this week the inspector general of the archives described a potentially catastrophic loss of data to our committee staff the inspector general with the assistance of the justice department and the secret service is currently investigating the loss of a hard drive containing one tera yte of data derived from records from the clinton presidency that went missing from the archives college park facility a terabyte of data is approximately equivalent to several thousand i'm sorry several million books we're trying to get an exact description of how many pages of of tax that would be but it's certainly hundreds of millions of pages of data data on  drives include more than one hundred thousand social security numbers contact information home addresses for various clinton administration officials secret service and white house operating procedures event log social gathering logs political records and other highly sensitive information the full extent of the contents of the drive is still being investigated the i g characterized a violation as quote the greatest loss ever and troubling and amazing and quote died you describe to us an environment at the college park facility where hundreds of employees have access to sensitive data where janitors visitors interns and others with no clearance are able to walk through areas where hard drives national security secrets are just lying around in fact archives and employees use area where the hard drives were left out as a shortcut to the bathroom now apparently another room is too warm and they have to keep the door open for for cooling purposes a bizarre enough story this incident should be troubling if it weren't isolated but it's even more alarming because of its part as a larger pattern all you have to do is read the reports released by the i g over the last few years to see the loss of this hard drive is just the latest example of carelessness at the archives archives employees were actually or intentionally throng away or original bureau of indian affairs records so frequently that a rule was put in place that required security officers and janitors to check the trash before it was taken out these records are irreplaceable and they were being thrown in the trash by our cars employees and personnel the failures of the archives security protocols are seemingly endless in two thousand and seven an annual inventory identified as missing approximately five hundred fifty nine pieces of equipment including items with memory storage capabilities and the potential of storing sensitive personal identifying information on them a report published in two thousand and six revealed that the cia and federal other federal agencies had to reclassify over fifty five thousand pages of records taken from the open shelves of the archives but we can't forget the answer in two thousand five with the former president clinton adviser sandy berger national security adviser and he pled guilty to unlawfully removing documents from the archives apparently stuffing him in his socks there are proper protocols  here and there shouldn't be a partisan issue historians want to access to these records to give an riginal account accurate account of american history it's not simply a clinton administration issue or a bush administration issue it's it's truly preserving our nation's history yesterday the partnership for public service an american university's institute for the study of public policy implementation released their report of best and worst places to work in the federal government two thousand and nine and surprisingly the national archives was one of the worst it ranks twenty nine out of thirty overall now this is unfortunate not only are the employees unhappy but we're not even protecting our nation's history and the categories of leadership supervisors and strategic management archives rank a paltry twenty two twenty and twenty one respectively this is unfortunate we have to change the culture in the archives and make sure that we protect our nation's data acting archivist adrian thomas was invited to appear here today but she declined ms thomas decided that her presence at a rib or a ribbon cutting ceremony was of far greater importance mr chairman i hope that we will be able to invite her in and have a hearing on that or at the very least the  archivist the president appoints now back to mr thomas for failure to grasp the gravity of the situation is shocking she certainly has something to explain she has a lot of explaining to do here to congress and the american people  employees and their immediate questions that she needs to be here today to answer as an inventory been done is herman if any other records are missing as a very important question and what immediate security measures have been taken to prevent further loss or theft given the pattern of mismanagement carol at the national archives i look for to working with chairman clay in the committee majority schedule a hearing with ms thomas as soon as possible we have to give her the opportunity to account for negligence within the archives and account to congress what we must do to fulfill our obligations to future generations we are here today to discuss qualifications of president obama the president obama should be looking for a new archivist it's clear that replacement for ms thomas can't come fast enough the import of professionals from the archives would be helpful but there's not unfortunately a single representative from the archives here today and that's unfortunate i like the witnesses for being here certainly experts in the field and we certainly appreciate that for the record and giving us guidelines going forward thank you chairman for your leadership and thank you for your hard work on this matter and th various stakeholders to share their views on the issues that are particular concern as the obama administration selects a new archive of the united states to leave the national archives and records administration generations of inquisitive american greater understanding of who we are finding a new archivist who advocates for transparency who understands and who anticipate the challenges of the in a r e may face and who possesses the expertise to implement technology which can expedite access to our nation's records are all critical to guarantee the n a r is capable of protecting the integrity of our national records the next archivist of the united states must ensure that the in a r e is he quipped with an affective and consistent system for electronic records management and we do hope that the a bomb a administration may have as its legacy an ac record of america's policies activities and a bit of its history an effective electronic record management system which can possess this massive backlog process this massive backlog should also possess the ability to assist in the declassification of eligible federal and presidential records with approximately four hundred million pages a valuable documents frozen in a system which grows by twenty five million pages per year it is critically important that the next archivist take a proactive approach to modernizing this system so that americans can have timely access to the documents which bring context to our national experience i would like all of today's witnesses i would like to thank them for the united states my name is patrice mcdermott i'm director of open the government dot org a coalition of more than seventy consumer and good government groups library associations journalists environmentalists labor organizations and others united to make the federal government a more open place in order to strengthen public trust in government make us safer and support our democratic principles one of my former colleagues who recently retired from nara said i believe in as an ideal i think that is where those of us on this panel and our colleagues in the public interest community stand as well we do this because nara is probably the only agency in the executive branch that has and is seen by the public to have access to government information as its primary mission nara has primarily understood its mission to encompass information that for a variety of reasons is historically significant this understanding of its mission is reflected in its leadership and its staff while the employees of nahr are dedicated servants and there are many talented individuals working there the agency does have a tender tendency to be inward looking and focused on the past the perception of nara is that it is primarily reactive not proactive and we know that in our preferred to take rather than a leadership stance with the agencies and within the government overall the critical position of both the lifecycle management of the records of our federal government and the mounting challenges government spaces in this area necessitates is the culture and stance of nara change nor is increasingly being asked to take on new challenges and has looked to locate new initiatives and offices pertaining to public access to contemporaneous government information these include the office of government information services created by the open government act an office that will have responsibility for implementing the memorandum on designation and sharing of controls on classified information better known as sensitive but on classified information moreover nara has another primary mission that receives that insufficient amount of the agency's attention and resources records administration many of us in the public access committee are deeply concerned about how nor is addressing its responsibility for records management and provision of access to the records of our nation this is especially true for the record two thousand and six to two thousand and sixteen strategic plan is indicative of the reason for our concern it has a total of one point five pages on records administration and one strategy for electronic records management and that's accompanied by a strategy on physical records storage indeed the strong evidence focus on the strategic plan is on the f agency increasingly understands itself as a museum the former archivist dr weinstein move the agency in some good directions with the use of technology technology though appears to be focused on again making o museum rather than a lead agency on life cycle management of records for public access recent history shows however that we an archivist who has a proven record of standing up for open government dr good positions on open government when crises arose but did not put the agency in a leadership stamp that is an approach we can no longer afford we need an archivist who understands nara is not just a museum of historical documents but  steward responsible for securing the integrity of government records he or she must be able to leap to embrace the role of catalyst for the information revolution and enunciate clear consistent and practical electronic record policies more importantly most importantly we need an archivist who will lead the government to meet the new challenges of managing and preserving electronic records including e mail records management must not be about cleaning up messes after they occur but taking the proactive steps necessary to prevent the loss of our documentary record the new archivist needs to be a visionary in terms of the importance and public use of government records in all forms and formats and throughout their life cycle and so nice to have a strong familiarity with technology as a tool or he also needs to be someone who understands and appreciates records management again throughout the lifecycle not just of records that will be archived the public and the government need an archivist who can provide vision and leadership for the federal government and foster successful partnership with history and access professionals inside and outside government the key is his or qualification is his or her commitment to maintaining the record of our national government and meeting the mandate of law because the next darkness will have so many challenges assume the needed leadership role and might attract candidates who have the vision to move the agency and to assist the president in moving forward the new archivist and the second person should give the office and the government information because in order for president obama the day one promises on transparent to have any meaningful impact immediate steps must be taken to protect the integrity of government records throughout their life cycle from creation to permanent preser actively currently assessing candidates for the office of the united states and i'm hopeful that the members of this subcommittee will let the white house know that our next archivist must be someone who has to confront the challenges they're facing are and someone should be someone who has the authority and the management skills to have a significant impact i want to preface my remarks to say that my organization works very regularly and we strongly support their mission that i've focused on information  officials have always been always taking our concerns seriously they've always been responsive when we've called upon them but our experience is that north failed to take leadership amongst government agencies in the area where it had unique expertise and in my view responsibility my really submission describes the divergence between a view of an r primarily as a museum of the past and a view of nahr as a critical component in our government overall information policy from the outside to us often seems to act like a disengaged bureaucrat mechanically doing its work when it should be leading change right now i have the opportunity to lead the change that president obama has called for in his transparency directive we believe in are can only fulfill mission however if it starts its work long before the boxes of old documents make their ways in ours where how the i'm going to highlight for critical areas that i think will require the archivists immediate attention the first electronics records management and the record lifecycle if there's one knowledge base that the new archivist should have it is of electronic max managed electronic records and records lifecycle management nar must solve the problem of long term storage and preservation and then that front i urge this committee to inquire of nahr into the functioning of the electronic records archives but nor also mostly the charge in getting federal agencies to learn how to manage their records agencies have a legal obligation to preserve records of historical significance they must have their the disposition schedules approved by nara but we know a very few instances when our has taken strong action to enforce the law second issue is classified records i believe most people now are would agree with me that the classified and d classified records process is inefficient time consuming and ineffective i'm not going to spend much time on it but i would say that we strongly support the establishment of a well funded national declassification and historical records center at nara that will make the growing volume of currently inaccessible records available to the public the new archivist should spearhead efforts to gain agency cooperation and advance the necessary legislative changes to make this a reality and quickly the third area is presidential records and pres nars effectiveness at preserving presidential records is an area of grave concern the oversight committee has heard over many years about mismanagement of presidential records and problems of the presidential library system i'm not going to revisit all of those details today but i do think that nara at least does appear to view itself as powerless to oversee presidential record keeping and even they do this this is their view even in the case of legitimate concerns that records may be missing or destroyed it also is faced with tremendous challenges regarding the presidential library system nor is currently undergoing a process to assess alternative models for presidential libraries i urge this committee to inquire of naran the details of its process and to and january twenty first open government memorandum he or she should have a vision for archive two point so that they can serve a new generation of researchers so what does this all mean for the selection of the new archivist the person who's chosen must be someone who doesn't only care about history but also understands what's coming in the future they have to understand the promise of technology and frankly they should be someone who has some experience implementing technology for preservation and access moreover they must view in our not just as a museum of the past but as a resource to serve the needs of our people today and in the future instead of looking at the new responsibilities that congress has been placing on nara as an interference in their mission they should view these as opportunities to help agencies do a better job at preserving records the next archivist also must be a skilled diplomat and a manager who can motivate and lead i was sad to read that nara had been listed as one of the least favorable places to work in the federal government because place to have a mediator of for disputes we have long experience dealing with the justice department they are very professional but they defend the government so they are there's an inherent conflict of interest in them playing that role we are very concerned that it's taken so long to see the point the director of the office of government information services i understand that appointment is imminent i think that's going to be a significant test on whether they are seriously taking the responsibility to act as that role as a mediator because that person can make a tremendous difference in terms of the openness of government but if the person who they have who they hire to start up that office is not someone who comes with a vision and a desire to make a difference well then it's just wasted money ourselves and with people on the hill and we while we know that nara was not pleased to have it partly because it was initially unfunded we do think that that is the best place for e best going to be placed to recommend we are concerned that enough money be allocated for the office that they are not dependent on detail leigh's from the justice department who are  and decent civil servants and they bring with them there they would bring with them their department of justice frame of mind and we want a new look at these cases and that these issues i would also say bill also asked that this that this office oversee or take a look at how how it is being implemented government wide and i think that going to be a very think or how would you evaluate agencies responses to the freedom of information act request for national security to get this information it in january they were going to release it well as you may know as of today they have not released it but yet the new york times reported on the story of the pentagon and actually gave the exact numbers  the ones that had return to flight and if you had requested a report from the pentagon under the freedom of information act and pentagon officials promised to release it promptly would you be upset that the pentagon dragged on what you own committee work there are problems with that so i think there are potentially technology issues within our in terms of its own ability to manage its own records much less to manage all the rest of the records and then there's a leadership issue in terms of the rest of the government they do have that responsibility they don't really want to take it but they do have that throughout the government and they have to provide leadership in moving the executive branch towards electronic records management and that is a big technological challenge and a co happy to add my voice and i'll be very quick i do think there's a need for cultural change i think that has not had cooperation in the executive branch and so there needs to be pressure put on each agency as well that they should be responsible on the congressional back up and in some instances they need some more authority from congress so that they can actually let agencies know they can be more vocal perhaps about the problems i think that they need a leader who can manage and they need a leader who can lead and that may mean they need more than one person so i would sort of support the comment miss macdermot said that there another political appointee position and i urge you when you do have in  here to ask them what are they going to do when they get things from the white house at the end of the day have any idea how to manage those kinds of records because that's a whole new level of competence complexity that i don't think we even have in the bush administration that i don't think that we have any problem with that i think when we talk about the national center and historical records we do think that the authority of one block is a concern because we've seen that no i think there are there do seem to be some questions about the capacity capability of the electronic records archive but i think that that's probably a subject witnesses i don't i don't can't recommend an alternative system although a lot of money's been spent already on the electronic records archive so hopefully rather than scrapping it it can be made to work and work quickly i believe that they are you know you have to talk to proper order in proper formats to make it easier for them to ingest so they don't have to do things like buy proprietary software you know so that they can hold things before they go into electronic record archive things like that that they could be doing but again i agree with  magnitude of it is there anything out there that can serve as a model of how we would be able to do you know of any i don't offhand i think the only place to look would be some of the big corporations i'm sorry yes you know it's possible that at some of the very big law firms that are sort of nationwide and have national offices all over are some very big corporations they're facing many of the same challenges that the government has in terms of managing records not ingesting massive volumes of electronic data it's really probably something that is if not totally unique you know essentially unique to the national archives in that every four or eight years they get these massive influx of information which they have to process and make available so there may we've advocated that concerns need to be addressed at the beginning of the record at the records creation as opposed to waiting until the other end because it makes much more sense to build into the information technology that all the agencies are putting in place