Remarks by Dr. Ken Thibodeau, Director, ERA Program
August 3, 2004
Starting in 1973, two computer scientists, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, researched the problem of enabling two computers to introduce themselves to each other and then to swap data. The result of that collaboration is known as the "Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol" or TCP/IP for short. Most people, if they looked at TCP/IP itself, would see it as arcane abstract, and irrelevant. But they would be wrong on the latter point. TCP/IP made the Internet possible and remains its foundation. It would be hard to overstate its importance in enabling a host of exciting developments and virtually unlimited practical applications and benefits to society.
Ordinary people will probably find today's announcement - not at all, but if they did come across it, they would probably see the Electronic Records Archives as something esoteric and of little interest. We intend to prove them wrong on that perception.
TCP/IP enables people to send data around the world. The technology behind ERA will enable us to transmit data over time, over very long periods of time, intact and without corruption. But it will do more than that. By raising the level of requirements from that of transmitting 'data' to that of communicating 'records,' it will enable us to reliably transmit information over both space and time, information that is of such quality that Americans will be able to rely on it to protect their rights, to transact business, to interact with Government.
Let me cite a specific case which shows the importance of the Electronic Records Archives. The personnel files for Americans serving in our armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world are in digital formats. Our service members depend on these records not only for their careers in the military, but subsequently to obtain veteran's benefits, and other things such as jobs and insurance. But today no one can guarantee to Americans serving in our armed forces that these electronic records can be preserved for as long as needed.
The Electronic Records Archives will enable the U.S. Government to honor its commitment to veterans: it will enable us to maintain their digital military personnel files intact and authentic.
The contracts which the Archivist will announce in a few minutes mark a major milestone in the Government's effort to ensure that we can manage, preserve and provide access to electronic records for as long as needed. Mr. Carlin started us on the path which led to this milestone 6 years ago, in the summer of 1998, when he chartered the Electronic Records Archives Program.
Recognizing that, in spite of NARA's sustained efforts to deal with electronic records starting in the 1960s, none of the technology that we had in place, or even that was available to us, was remotely capable of dealing with the size or complexity of the challenges we faced, the Archivist charged us with searching the horizons of computer science to see if there were emerging technologies which offered potential for addressing these challenges.
To do that we formed an ever-expanding set of partnerships with other agencies who shared an interest in the problems of preserving digital information over generations of technology. In all honesty, we could not have reached the point where we are today without the collaboration of agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Patent and Trademark Office, National Science Foundation, Army Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and others. They have helped us to identify and evaluate possibilities, and in sum to develop the vision for the system we are contracting for today.
Over the course of the next year, we will be working intensely with both of the industry teams to further refine the requirements for ERA into system specifications which are precise enough to guide actual design and development of the system. Each team will take those specifications as the basis for a design of a system which will both support NARA's end-to-end process for the lifecycle management of all types of records in the Federal Government, and NARA will select one of the two teams to actually proceed with development of the system.
As I said, we will be working intensely, but we won't be working in isolation. We will work with federal agencies to prototype collaborative tools for records management. We will work with the staff of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and with all of the military services, to ensure that the system we develop satisfies requirements for military personnel files.
We will work with the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army to ensure that when they digitize soldiers' medical records, those records remain available and usable in providing medical care to soldiers and veterans.
We will work with the Department of Energy to ensure that important records about our nuclear stockpiles are adequately protected and accessible when needed. And we will reach out to members of the public who are interested in accessing our holdings. Such interactions will give us better insight into the needs and desires of our customers inside of Government and out. They will put us in a better position to evaluate the designs the two contractors will develop.
Where will all this lead? It will enable NARA to continue to fulfill its mission in the 21st century. It will increasingly enable Americans to obtain access to valuable Government records over the Internet. It will spur the development of technologies which other agencies, other governments, and private sector organizations can apply to meet their own requirements for keeping and managing their electronic records.
Thank You.
