Transparency can only be effective if government agencies properly preserve and maintain their records. To this end, federal law mandates that all agencies make and preserve records that document the organization’s policies, decisions, and essential transactions. The law further requires every agency to establish a program for preserving its records; control the creation, maintenance, and use of records; and safeguard against the removal or loss of records. Federal agencies, however, have not complied with these obligations, and have failed to preserve records that would otherwise be publicly available. Agencies have been particularly lax in preserving and maintaining electronic records.
The administration should implement effective oversight of agency record keeping practices. To help achieve this goal, the administration should ensure that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) fulfills its affirmative statutory obligations related to federal agency oversight. Federal law imposes on NARA the mandatory responsibility to guide and assist agencies with record keeping. In furtherance of these duties, NARA must, among other things, conduct inspections or surveys of agency records and records management programs and practices. NARA has, however, failed to conduct any inspections of agency records since 2000, and the U.S. General Accounting Office has identified this failure as a significant contributing factor to agency non-compliance with record keeping requirements.
Comments (1)
I agree with the need to have stronger laws and regulations in place for records management. However, it is not as simple as coming down hard on NARA. Yes, NARA has records management responsibility over Federal agencies, but that does not equal "oversight" responsibilities. NARA is not an oversight agency, and maybe that is part of the problem. If NARA is expected to ensure that agencies comply to records management laws and regulations, then Congress should provide NARA with more "teeth" in those laws. Another point to make is that NARA cannot do it alone...agencies should be expected to do their part. The times have changed and Records Management needs to be recognized as an important function within the agency. Records Managers also need the "teeth" necessary to do their jobs in ensuring that important records are being maintained and preserved. To accomplish this, agencies need to realize that Records Manager does not equal file clerk.