Opinion ID: 628033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The NSC and EOP Electronic Communications Systems

Text: 11 Since the mid-1980s, the NSC and the EOP have utilized electronic communications systems to improve their operational efficiency. 2 These systems allow employees to create and share electronic appointment calendars as well as to transfer and edit word processing documents, but it is their electronic mail (or e-mail) capacity that has racked up the most mileage. The 1,300 federal employees with access to the EOP and NSC electronic mail systems can, and apparently do, utilize them to relay lengthy substantive--even classified--notes that, in content, are often indistinguishable from letters or memoranda. But, in contrast to its paper cousin, e-mail can be delivered nearly instantaneously at any time of the day or week. And, in contrast to telephone conversations, e-mail automatically creates a complete record of the exact information users send and receive. 12 Other attributes of the EOP and NSC electronic mail systems are also relevant [303 U.S.App.D.C. 113] here. First, these systems give recipients the option of storing notes in their personal electronic log. After receiving a message, a user may instruct the computer to delete the note; otherwise, it will be stored in her log for later use. Second, both the recipient and the author of a note can print out a hard copy of the electronic message containing essentially all the information displayed on the computer screen. That paper rendering will not, however, necessarily include all the information held in the computer memory as part of the electronic document. Directories, distribution lists, acknowledgements of receipts and similar materials do not appear on the computer screen--and thus are not reproduced when users print out the information that appears on the screen. Without this non-screen information, a later reader may not be able to glean from the hard copy such basic facts as who sent or received a particular message or when it was received. For example, if a note is sent to individuals on a distribution list already in the computer, the hard copy may well include only a generic reference to the distribution list (e.g., List A), not the names of the individuals on the list who received the document. Consequently, if only the hard copy is preserved in such situations, essential transmittal information relevant to a fuller understanding of the context and import of an electronic communication will simply vanish. A final relevant fact here is that the individual note logs are not the only electronic repositories for information on the e-mail system. The defendant agencies periodically create backup tapes--snapshots of all the material stored on these electronic communications systems at a given time--that can be used later for retrieval purposes.