Obama calls on federal agencies to reform record-keeping

President Obama issued a memorandum today calling for federal agencies to submit specific plans to reform records management practices, and report to the Office of Management and Budget within 120 days.

AP Photo

Pres. Obama at the White House on Monday.

Specifically, each agency is asked to turn in a plan on how they will better manage electronic records, including email and social media data. Agencies are also asked to report on their use, if any, of cloud-based storage services, a method for storing data in remote data centers.

"When records are well managed, agencies can use them to assess the impact of programs, to reduce redundant efforts, to save money, and to share knowledge within and across their organizations," the memo said. "In these ways, proper records management is the backbone of open government."

Obama's directive comes in response to a 2010 assessment from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) that showed most government agencies are not properly keeping electronic records. Of the 93 percent of agencies that self-reported findings, 95 percent acknowledged being at high to moderate risk of losing or compromising records.

According to a press release accompanying today's memorandum, NARA has accumulated an average of 475 million pages of records per year over the last 10 years.

David Ferriero, who heads the National Archives and Records Administration, said in a statement that NARA "strongly supports" the president's call to action. Ferriero said he is "delighted" that the administration has made records management a priority, which "underlines the critical nature" of keeping up with advancing technologies.

The memo said that in order to transition to the "digital age," agencies should name a senior agency official to supervise the effort, in addition to ensuring that proper resources are devoted to it.

According to the memo, the record-keeping changes could also result in some financial savings, although no estimate was given regarding how much the White House hopes to save.

Anne Weismann, chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that streamlining records management makes good fiscal sense.

"Short-term investment would save money long-term," she said, adding that prioritizing the issue would lead to agencies finding the money to implement the changes.

Weismann applauded the directive as a much-needed move toward efficiency and openness, but lamented that it didn't come sooner. She said early in the Obama presidency the administration updated its own records management practices, which would have been a good time to direct agencies to do the same.

"We've been pushing for something like this for years," she said. "It's better late than never."

Weismann pointed out that a solution is still many months away, given that the deadline is only for submitting plans.

"That's just to get to the beginning," she said. "Then we deal with the really difficult issue of implementation."