Motion filed for more archiving in search for White House e-mails

In the latest development in the search for missing White House e-mails, an independent archiving organization filed a motion to extend an order that ensures preservation of backup tapes to other media and obtains emergency depositions from White House and National Archives and Records Administration officials. The organization claims that congressional testimony by defendants is suspect and conflicts with earlier claims in court documents.

Comment on this article in the forum.The White House has been under fire since a 2005 analysis identified more than 700 days in which e-mail records were either unrealistically low in number, or nonexistent. In 2007, two separate complaints on the Bush administration's failure to replace an electronic records management system when it switched e-mail systems in 2002 were filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and The George Washington University's National Security Archive, an independent research institute and library that serves as a repository of government records.

"We just want to make sure any records that exist are being preserved, so when we decide who's right and who's wrong in this case, there will still be something worth fighting for," said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel for the National Security Archive. "We asked that the court find out what's there and what we need to do to protect it; [to] keep the status quo so while the court figures things out, everything else doesn't disappear."

On March 11, the National Security Archive filed a motion to extend an order for preservation from the U.S. Court for the District of Columbia. It primarily addressed backup tapes, to include "all media that contain or may contain e-mails or e-mail data," including e-mail accounts of individual employees. The motion, Fuchs said, was filed in response to testimony from Theresa Payton, chief information officer of the White House Office of Administration, during a February hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"Many things came to light that we were not aware of before," Fuchs said, noting a failed attempt by Payton's office to restore missing e-mails from Vice President Dick Cheney's office. According to her testimony, the records did not exist on backup tapes. "Now it may be that they need to do more work to determine the source of the problem, but [Payton] is just claiming there is no problem," Fuchs said, referring to Payton's prior declarations filed with the court that indicated everything was likely recoverable.

While the administration did not file a formal response to the motion, Fuchs said a verbal response indicated government representatives would argue the current preservation order is sufficient.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

CORRECTION: The original version of this story indicated that a district court had denied an independent organization's motion to extend an order ensuring preservation of backup tapes of White House e-mails. The motion has been filed, but the court has not ruled on it. The article has been updated to correct the error.