WASHINGTON — In the never-ending quest to preserve the government’s history, there have been weapons of mass destruction.
Before the delete key, there were paper shredders, erase buttons on tape recorders and trash cans.
The current dust-up over access to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s e-mails as secretary of state is causing historians and government record-keepers to take stock of what might be a best-of-times, worst-of-times moment for saving government records.
In the age of e-mail, texting, Twitter and beyond, there are more records than ever on the workings of government. At the same time, though, it’s easy to make those records disappear, and it’s challenging to find a manageable way to capture what’s significant and cull the chaff.
There’s also a tendency by government officials to pre-emptively cover their tracks by avoiding the creation of records in the first place.
The National Archives’ Paul Wester, chief records officer for the government, acknowledges that “the situation is not as good as we would like it to be,” particularly during the challenging transition from paper records to electronic records.
Wester says the archivists were surprised by revelations that Clinton had used only a personal e-mail account and server during her days as secretary of state.
Historian Luke Nichter of Texas A&M University-Central Texas said he’s concerned that individual agencies and individual officials draw the line between what records should be part of the public record and what’s personal.
