More questions over White House e-mail

[babylonsister]

More questions over White House e-mail

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 11, 7:33 PM ET

WASHINGTON - An ethics advocacy group asked a federal judge Thursday to order the White House to preserve tapes used to back up its e-mail system.

Asserting that the White House may not have kept copies of e-mails that are at the heart of a dispute over the Bush administration's record-keeping, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a motion asking for a court order to preserve computer backup tapes.

"The White House is refusing to confirm that they have maintained e-mail going back to the beginning of the administration as they are required by law to do," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.

The group placed on the public record two Justice Department letters stating that the White House is maintaining all backup tapes that were in the possession of the White House Office of Administration as of Sept. 25, 2007, the date CREW sued the Executive Office of the President in the e-mail controversy.

The private group asked the Justice Department for information about what backup tapes were in the White House's possession, but the Justice Department has not provided an explanation.

The possibility that backup tapes may not contain copies of all White House e-mail is a new dimension to the controversy, which first arose in early 2006. CREW alleges that millions of White House e-mails are missing, and that the backup tapes contained the lone remaining copies.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_e_mail

[Solly Mack]

1. ....

already recommended....now kicking

[Dhalgren]

2. Ditto, Soll...

[L. Coyote]

3. CREW +++++ White House Sued Over Deleted E-Mails

CREW FILES TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER IN LAWSUIT AGAINST THE WHITE HOUSE
11 Oct 2007 // http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30265

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a temporary restraining order with the court in CREW v. Executive Office of the President, the lawsuit in which CREW is challenging the White House's failure to preserve and restore millions of emails deleted from White House servers from March 2003 forward. CREW filed this motion in the face of the White House's refusal to give CREW assurances that all back-up copies of the deleted emails are being preserved. The White House has refused to identify what back-up copies of the deleted emails currently exist and has refused to commit to preserving all existing back-up copies.

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CREW SUES WHITE HOUSE AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION OVER LOST EMAILS
25 Sep 2007 // http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30199

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Administration and the National Archives and Records Administration challenging as contrary to law their knowing failure to recover, restore and preserve millions of electronic communications created and/or received within the White House.

The lawsuit stems from the millions of e-mails that were improperly deleted from White House servers and currently exist on back-up tapes, if at all.

CREW's suit follows a similar suit filed a few weeks ago by the National Security Archives. In addition, CREW sent a letter to Alan Swendiman, director of the Office of Administration (OA), seeking immediate written assurances that the OA has taken, and will continue to take, all steps necessary to preserve the back-up tapes, which at this point are all that is left of the large volume of historically important documents deleted from the servers.

======================
White House Sued Over Deleted E-Mails
12 Oct 2007 // http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30274

The government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a request for a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court to compel the White House to preserve backup copies of e-mails deleted since March 2003.

In September, the group sued the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Administration, and the National Archives and Records Administration, challenging the administration's failure to keep and preserve millions of e-mails deleted from White House servers since March 2003, as a violation of federal and presidential recordkeeping laws.

CREW's general counsel, Anne Weisman, said the group sought the restraining order when the White House failed to provide assurances that it was keeping backup copies of the communications. Instead, White House lawyers would say only that the administration is preserving records dating to the September 2007 filing of CREW's lawsuit.

[L. Coyote]

4. SUPPORT CREW

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington targets government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests through high-impact legal actions.

DONATE: https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/CREW/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=1299&t=Redesign.dwt

[wicket]

5. They are wonderful

Thanks for the link :thumbsup:

[L. Coyote]

6. K & R