Unauthorized Disposition of Federal Records
Federal agencies are required to "notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, corruption, deletion, erasure, or other destruction of records in the custody of the agency" (36 CFR Part 1230). NARA also receives notifications from other sources such as the news media and private citizens. NARA establishes unauthorized disposition case files to track each allegation and any communications with the agency until the issue is resolved.
Listed below are unauthorized disposition cases from October 1, 2016 to present and includes pdf files of open and close letters (when available or permissible) for each case from NARA to the agency.
The unauthorized disposition case file contains more information including the communications between NARA and the agency. If you would like more information on a case, please contact the NARA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office to file a FOIA request for the case information. Please use the Case ID indicated on the below table in your FOIA request. You can also see some previously requested records in the FOIA Electronic Reading Room. For additional information on older cases, you can review this spreadsheetof all cases that were closed prior to October 1, 2016.
The Records Management Oversight and Reporting Program is responsible for handling all unauthorized disposition cases. For more information or to report a case of unauthorized disposition, please contact us via email at UnauthorizedDisposition@nara.gov.
Departments
- Agriculture
- Commerce
- Defense
- Education
- Energy
- Health and Human Services
- Homeland Security
- Interior
- Justice
- Labor
- State
- Transportation
- Treasury
- Veterans Affairs
Independent Agencies
Agriculture
| Agency | Open Case Date | Close Case Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Service | 08/07/2017 | 12/11/2017 | UD-2017-0028 | 10,385 Softcopy/Tiff files between 2003-2007 and PDF and TIFF vintages between 2010-2013 topographic maps, were not archived were overwritten with each update. Volume and dates are unknown. | Founded | UD-2017-0028 Open/Close |
| Forest Service | 01/09/2018 |
01/18/2018 |
UD-2018-0002 | Accidental loss of FY 2016 procurement records. A Southern Region Forest Service employee inadvertently left a briefcase containing the records in an airport waiting area on March 24, 2017. | Founded | UD-2018-0002 Open/Close |
| Forest Service | 02/08/2018 | 02/26/2018 | UD-2018-0007 | Suspected unauthorized disposition of Federal records donated to Black Hills State University, in FY2005, by Black Hills National Forest. | Unfounded | UD-2018-0007 Open/Close |
| Forest Service | 01/18/2018 | 10/17/2018 | UD-2018-0012 | A Forest Service employee in the Pacific Northwest Region has admitted to stealing Agency financial records and states that the records have been provided to her attorney. | Founded | UD-2018-0012 Open/Close |
Commerce
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commerce | 10/01/2019 | UD-2020-0001 | The Washington Post published an article on September 30, 2019, alleging that Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, used personal email for official business and did not consistently preserve his government-related email messages properly. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0001 Open | |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | 07/10/2017 | 10/19/2018 | UD-2017-0023 | NOAA might illegally be destroying records (electronic messages through Skype and Google Chat) of a recent meeting discussing new regulations against the fishing industry. | Unfounded | UD-2017-0023 Open/Close |
| U.S. Patent and Trademark Office | 02/10/2016 | 02/12/2019 | UD-2016-0005 | The potential unauthorized disposition of records related to the sale of patent documents to the owner of Riverby Books in Washington, DC. | Unfounded | UD-2016-0005 Open/Close |
| U.S. Patent and Trademark Office | 07/26/2018 | 09/27/2018 | UD-2018-0021 |
Utility patent drawings for sale on eBay.
|
Unfounded | UD-2018-0021 Open/Close |
Defense
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force | 5/18/2016 | 7/11/2017 | UD-2016-0013 | Loss of personnel records (DD-214’s and Special Orders) at Malmstrom AFB, Montana that may have occurred during input of hardcopy records into Automated Records Management System (ARMS) administered by Air Force Personnel Center. | Founded | UD-2016-0013 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 10/22/2018 | 10/22/2018 | UD-2019-0003 | Alleged alteration of an individual's Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD-214) from the Air Force | Unfounded | No letters available |
| Air Force | 6/12/2019 | 7/11/2019 | UD-2019-0029 | One permanent record copy of the G-series special orders and movement orders from April 2-8, 2008 | Founded | UD-2019-0029 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/12/2019 | UD-2019-0030 | Permanent Court-Martial Order records dated between 1994-2005 | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0030 Open | |
| Air Force | 6/12/2019 | 9/10/2019 | UD-2019-0031 | 214 boxes of various temporary and permanent records. Permanent records that were lost include aircrew and mission flight files, G-series special orders and movement orders, and military justice files. Temporary records include tactical evaluations, foreign military sales records, decorations, and other project and administrative files. | Founded | UD-2019-0031 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/12/2019 | 7/12/2019 | UD-2019-0033 | One box of permanent G-series special orders and movement orders dating January 1983 and six boxes of temporary Decorations to Individuals (Military and Civilian) Disapproved U.S. Military records (1991, 1994, 1999-2002) | Founded | UD-2019-0033 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/12/2019 | 7/23/2019 | UD-2019-0034 | Five boxes of records. Temporary records included motor vehicle operations and accident files and travel records. Permanent records included G-series special orders and movement orders. | Founded | UD-2019-0034 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/18/2019 | UD-2019-0035 | On May 21, 2019, the loss of one retired active duty member's outpatient medical record was declared. Record not recovered. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0035 Open | |
| Air Force | 6/18/2019 | 7/12/2019 | UD-2019-0036 | One implant device and medical equipment log. | Founded | |
| Air Force | 6/18/2019 | 7/11/2019 | UD-2019-0037 | 500 decorations citations | Founded | UD-2019-0037 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/18/2019 | 7/11/2019 | UD-2019-0038 | One box of records documenting the supporting payments to contractors based on monthly meal counts. | Founded | UD-2019-0038 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/18/2019 | 7/18/2019 | UD-2019-0039 | A server containing munitions control documents crashed | Founded | UD-2019-0039 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/18/2019 | 7/15/2019 | UD-2019-0040 | Three boxes of research and development case files. | Founded | UD-2019-0040 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 6/18/2019 | 7/12/2019 | UD-2019-0041 | The loss and destruction of 590 aeronautical orders from October 2008 to September 2009 | Founded | UD-2019-0041 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 10/16/2019 | 11/14/2019 | UD-2020-0007 | 16 G-series special orders and movement orders at Charleston Air Force Base. | Founded | UD-2020-0007 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 11/18/2019 | 12/19/2019 | UD-2020-0014 | Digital Table and Rule T32-07 R 10.00 Project Case files were destroyed due to the hard drive disk being removed from one server into another server and overwritten | Founded | UD-2020-0014 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 12/10/2019 | 1/16/2020 | UD-2020-0019 | One box of missing Travel Records and Air Reserve Pay and Allowance System Supporting Documents. | Founded | UD-2020-0019 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 1/30/2020 | UD-2020-0026 | On October 23, 2019, the 45th Medical Group discovered that two medical records and one dental record were missing from the Medical Treatment Facility (MTF); and again, on January 23, 2020, another patient’s dental records were also identified as lost. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0026 Open | |
| Air Force | 1/30/2020 | UD-2020-0027 |
rom August 2019 to January 2020, the Air Force discovered the loss of portions of nine medical and dental records belonging to separating and retired active duty members. |
Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0027 Open | |
| Air Force | 2/24/2020 | 4/10/2020 | UD-2020-0030 | Theft of forms containing PII records of personnel by fired employee. | Founded | UD-2020-0030 Open/Close |
| Army | 2/4/2020 | UD-2020-0024 | Allegation of destroyed training records. | Founded | UD-2020-0024 Open/Close | |
| Army | 11/10/2020 | UD-2021-0006 | The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) has failed to notify the National Archives of its inability to locate Permit #81-079, pertaining to a levee project in Henrico County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2021-0006 Open | |
| Defense Logistics Agency | 10/20/2016 | 10/20/2016 | UD-2017-0001 | Copies of acknowledgements of invoices for contracts contained in the WAWF system, MIPRs, MODs and commitment documents (DL1304) forms. 6/30/2016: Financial records and supporting documentation including acknowledgements of invoices | Founded | UD-2017-0001 Open/Close |
| Defense Logistics Agency | 1/29/2019 | 1/31/2019 | UD-2019-0009 | Telecommunications and Information Systems Program/Project files maintained by the Information Operations Enterprise Business Systems Management Support Office (MSO) and record documents maintained by the Enterprise Business Standards Office (EBSO). | Founded | UD-2019-0009 Open/Close |
| Defense Logistics Agency | 10/1/2019 | 10/21/2019 | UD-2020-0006 | The loss of 15 cubic feet of temporary DLA Installation Management Police Records on September 11, 2019 at DLA’s Susquehanna, PA Police Branch. | Founded | UD-2020-0006 Open/Close |
| Joint Chiefs of Staff | 6/17/2019 | 10/21/2019 | UD-2019-0028 | IT Office deleted information from the J-5 Global Policy and Strategic Planning, National Security Concerns office's shared drive. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0028 Open/Close |
| National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency | 5/13/2015 | 7/25/2017 | UD-2015-0001 | Records of the Executive Office of the NGA records, both electronic and paper, have not been fully preserved for the period of 1996 to 2006. | Founded | UD-2015-0001 Close Letter Only |
| National Guard Bureau | 8/9/2016 | 1/16/2018 | UD-2016-0023 | FOIA requester denied request to Kentucky Air National Guard records. Alleges high ranking personnel ordered records to be deleted. | Unfounded | UD-2016-0023 Open/Close |
| National Security Agency | 3/4/2019 | 3/25/2019 | UD-2019-0015 | Investigative and Polygraph records | Founded | No letter available |
| Office of Inspector General | 6/23/2015 | 10/5/2018 | UD-2015-0003 | Former and current DoD IG employees Lynne Halbooks and Henry Shelley are subjects of court investigation that they allegedly destroyed documents in DoD IG's investigation of former NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake | Unfounded | UD-2015-0003 Open/Close |
| Office of the Secretary of Defense | 11/3/2009 | 2/28/2017 | UD-2010-0001 | E-mail captured in May 2004 from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq maintained on OSD hard drives that was destroyed sometime before 10/22/2009. | Founded | UD-2010-0001 Close Letter Only |
| Office of the Secretary of Defense | 12/18/2015 | 11/15/2016 | UD-2016-0003 | Possible alienation of e-mail records from Secretary Ashton Carter resulting from his use of a personal e-mail account. | Unfounded | UD-2016-0003 Open/Close |
| Office of the Secretary of Defense | 11/1/2016 | 3/6/2017 | UD-2017-0006 | Possible alienation of e-mail records resulting from Secretary Robert Gates' use of a personal e-mail account during his tenure as Secretary. | Unfounded | UD-2017-0006 Open/Close |
| Office of the Secretary of Defense | 10/29/2019 | UD-2020-0012 | Approvals and denials of requests relating to DOD’s cooperation with the production of television, theatrical, and motion picture films by civilian producers. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0012 Open | |
| Office of the Secretary of Defense | 11/19/2019 | 12/19/2019 | UD-2020-0015 | Loss of hard copy records related to Anti-Deficiency Act | Founded | UD-2020-0015 Open/Close |
| Navy | 7/15/2013 | 9/13/2018 | UD-2013-0001 | The Naval History and Heritage Command reported records offered for sale on eBay as possibly being alienated. These include blueprints, ship plans, and general plan booklets for Navy vessels during the period 1934-1991. | Founded | UD-2013-0001 Open/Close |
| Navy | 10/29/2014 | 9/5/2018 | UD-2015-0004 | Records related to the manufacture and purchase of automatic-rifle silencers. Navy security officers allegedly destroyed records of the Navy Directorate for Plans, Policy, Oversight and Integration that were the subject of an ongoing federal investigation. | Unfounded | UD-2015-0004 Open/Close |
| Navy | 3/5/2019 | 3/26/2019 | UD-2019-0014 | A Request for Leave or Approved Absence (OPM Form 71) from November 2018 | Unfounded | UD-2019-0014 Open/Close |
| Navy | 9/11/2019 | 1/16/2020 | UD-2019-0049 | Naval Sea Systems Command records. Maintained by the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at the Intermediate Maintenance Facility, the missing records include at least 92 OPM-71 Forms that document leave requests of three employees, over the past two years. | Founded | UD-2019-0049 Open/Close |
| Navy | 9/11/2019 | 2/6/2020 | UD-2019-0055 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | |
| Navy | 11/4/2020 | UD-2021-0001 | Loss of original Preble Papers. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2021-0001 Open | |
| Navy | 11/9/2020 | UD-2021-0004 | Allegation that the Navy's use of outdated authorities has resulted in the early destruction of FOIA records. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2021-0004 Open | |
|
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences |
5/23/2018 | 12/11/2018 | UD-2018-0014 | Wound Data Munitions Effectiveness Team (WDMET) electronic records and audio recordings. | Founded | UD-2018-0014 Open/Close |
| United States Marine Corps | 8/2/2016 | 4/2/2018 | UD-2016-0021 | Potential alienation of records resulting from the alleged donation of 16,000 reels of 16mm and 35mm films to the University of South. Carolina. | Founded | UD-2016-0021 Open/Close |
Education
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education | 5/21/2019 | 10/18/2019 | UD-2019-0027 | Secretary's use of personal email. Messages involving the Secretary's personal email accounts were preserved in the accounts of other Department political employees included on the messages. But there were instances where the Secretary did not forward emails from her personal accounts to her Department email accounts. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0027 Open/Close |
| Education | 9/11/2019 | 12/11/2019 | UD-2019-0053 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0053 Open/Close |
Energy
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 12/21/2010 | 8/28/2017 | UD-2011-0001 | Federal records turned over to the Colorado School of Mines by current and former Department of Energy employees between 1989 and 1994. | Founded | UD-2011-0001 Close Letter Only |
| Energy | 1/13/2020 | UD-2020-0022 | Allegation of unauthorized destruction of DOE's records at WIPP facility. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0022 Open | |
| Energy | 9/8/2020 | 9/8/2020 | UD-2020-0040 |
Department of Energy’s Office of Counsel discovered that ½ cubic foot of temporary OGE-450 form records were damaged due to a water leak caused by a pipe burst in an administrative file room. |
Founded | UD-2020-0040 Open/Close |
| National Nuclear Security Administration | 11/21/2016 | 11/28/2016 | UD-2017-0009 | Accidental destruction of thirty personnel training folders by the Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) Security Department that occurred between 2005 to 2014 at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, West Mifflin, PA. | Founded | UD-2017-0009 Open/Close |
| Office of Science | 5/23/2019 | 6/19/2019 | UD-2019-0026 | Contractor personnel records maintained by the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science (SC), Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee dating from fiscal years 1994 through 1997. | Founded | UD-2019-0026 Open/Close |
| Western Area Power Administration | 10/8/2019 | 10/21/2019 | UD-2020-0005 | 29 feet of records created by WAPA’s Audit and Compliance, (date range approximately 1964 – 2008). | Founded | UD-2020-0005 Open/Close |
Health and Human Services
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status |
Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health and Human Services | 3/30/2020 | UD-2020-0033 | Premature deletion of email accounts of departed employees. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0033 Open | |
| Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | 2/12/2020 | 5/6/2020 | UD-2020-0029 | Emails from their non-capstone officials are being deleted by their ITIO staff after 60 days. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0029 Open |
| Centers for Disease Control | 9/11/2019 | 11/26/2019 | UD-2019-0054 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0054 Open/Close |
| Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | 6/7/2016 | 1/10/2017 | UD-2016-0015 | Email records created or received by CMS - OEDA Office. Anonymous allegation that Niall Brennan, Chief Data Officer and Director of OEDA directed his staff "to establish personal email accounts on non-government systems." | Unfounded | UD-2016-0015 Open/Close |
| Centers for Medicare and Medicaid | 10/2/2018 | 11/9/2018 | UD-2019-0001 | Documents submitted via Healthcare.gov pertaining to income of healthcare applicants | Unfounded | UD-2019-0001 Open/Close |
| Food and Drug Administration | 2/12/2020 | UD-2020-0028 | Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gotlieb's twitter account was deleted | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0028 Open |
Homeland Security
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customs and Border Protection | 11/13/2017 | 4/24/2018 | UD-2018-0001 | Several boxes of paper records were destroyed due to Hurricane Harvey | Founded | UD-2018-0001 Open/Close |
| Customs and Border Protection | 7/11/2018 | UD-2018-0019 | Media reported that Customs and Border Protection officials were altering or deleting records of families crossing the border between Mexico and the United States. | Ongoing litigation | UD-2018-0019 Open | |
| Customs and Border Protection | 10/4/2018 | UD-2019-0002 | Border Surveillance Systems Records (BSS). | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0002 Open | |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency | 10/31/2012 | 11/22/2016 | UD-2013-0002 | Email records related to the management of grant funds awarded by FEMA to DVIC. | Unfounded | UD-2013-0002 Open/Close |
| Homeland Security | 2/21/2017 | UD-2017-0018 | Email using private (non-.gov) account for Secretary Jeh Johnson, Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Chief of Staff Christian Marrone, & General Counsel Steven Bunnell. All emails dating from December 23, 2013 through the present. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2017-0018 Open | |
| Immigration and Customs Enforcement | 10/25/2019 | UD-2020-0009 | Washington Post article alleges the deletion of surveillance footage relating to the death of detainee. | Ongoing litigation | UD-2020-0009 Open | |
| Immigration and Customs Enforcement | 10/1/2020 | UD-2020-0042 | BBC alleges that medical request forms from detained immigrants were shredded and medical records have been fabricated. | Ongoing investigation | UD-2020-0042 Open | |
| Office of Immigration Statistics | 8/2/2019 | 8/2/2019 | UD-2019-0042 | The three boxes contained the “G-23 Report of Field Operations” dated from 1941 through 1996. These records were scanned by the Office of Unity of Effort (OUE) and were returned to OIS custody in September of 2017, at which time they were placed in a conference room. In November of 2017, it was determined that the boxes were no longer in the conference room and the records were disposed of by an employee. |
Founded | UD-2019-0042 Open/Close |
| Transportation Security Administration | 11/16/2016 | 11/28/2016 | UD-2017-0008 | Calibration Reports for seven Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) machines were missing from the log books for the month of August. After research it was determined that the calibration logs had been shredded. | Founded | UD-2017-0008 Open/Close |
| Transportation Security Administration | 5/25/2017 | 6/1/2017 | UD-2017-0022 | Calibration Reports maintained in three Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) machines. | Founded | UD-2017-0022 Close Letter Only |
| Transportation Security Administration | 12/3/2018 | 12/4/2018 | UD-2019-0007 | Temporary TSA records destroyed due to mold & mildew contamination after exposure to flooding and wind damage sustained from Hurricane Irma. Records include: financial purchase card & travel card records; leave request, overtime request, and shift bid forms; vehicle tracking, maintenance, and service records; emergency preparedness exercise records; official correspondence with the Virgin Island Port Authority; and property hand receipts. | Founded | UD-2019-0007 Open/Close |
| Transportation Security Administration | 6/25/2019 | 5/12/2020 | UD-2019-0044 | While working on rescheduling the permanent records for media neutrality. The TSA is unable to locate the records scheduled in 2004 or identify whether they have ceased creating the records. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0044 Open |
| United States Citizenship and Immigration Services | 11/10/2020 | UD-2021-0002 |
Unclassified Headquarters Policy Subject files, from between 1955-1994. |
Pending review/follow-up | UD-2021-0002 Open |
Interior
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Indian Affairs | 5/31/2018 | 6/1/2018 | UD-2018-0016 | One FRC box of 3401-P5 Housing Improvement (HIP) Applicant Case Files, FY 1960 - 2006. | Founded | UD-2018-0016 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs | 1/31/2019 | 4/25/2019 | UD-2019-0010 | Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) reports and information pertaining to Irrigation and Power Investments | Unfounded | UD-2019-0010 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs | 2/3/2020 | 4/13/2020 | UD-2020-0023 | Private citizen alleges that BIA has destroyed records related to " All correspondence and related records from the Pacific Regional Office and the Southern California Agency of the BIA, regarding the incorrect degree of Indian blood certification." | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0023 Open |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs | 8/5/2020 | UD-2020-0036 | Potential loss of a file packet of an individual | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0036 Open | |
| Bureau of Land Management | 2/16/2017 | 8/15/2018 | UD-2017-0016 | Fire damaged/destroyed the Bureau of Land Management Challis, ID field office. Majority of records destroyed/damaged include realty records, rights-of-way, recreation records, unauthorized use, grazing permits, allotment files, and mining claim surface management files. Contractor was hired to evaluate the records that were damaged/destroyed as a result of the fire. Agency is estimating that a final report from the contractor that will include an estimate of records destroyed and recovery efforts for those that can be salvaged will be received in July/August time frame. | Founded | UD-2017-0016 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Land Management | 7/27/2017 | 8/24/2017 | UD-2017-0027 | On December 27, 2016, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee in the Salt Lake Field Office (SLFO) prematurely disposed of physical land-use (film) permits in an effort to make space for additional records. The records that were disposed were the origianl records in paper form covering FY 1990 through FY 2015 and included correspondence, applications, maps, permits, payment receipts, serial register pages, and related materials. Approximate volume 8 cubic feet. | Founded | UD-2017-0027 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Ocean Energy Management | 6/26/2019 | 8/29/2019 | UD-2019-0045 | Documents from the BOEM Alaska Region were not located during a regional file room inventory project. | Founded | UD-2019-0045 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Ocean Energy Management | 9/17/2019 | 11/7/2019 | UD-2019-0057 | A potential loss of permanent records of 5-Year Program Final Product documents. | Founded | UD-2019-0057 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 6/21/2019 | 9/10/2019 | UD-2019-0043 | During records transfer, it was discovered that some of the boxes of paper records had evidence of rodents nesting. The individual that was given the task of cleaning out the nesting materials threw away the contents. | Founded | UD-2019-0043 Open/Close |
| Fish and Wildlife Service | 8/20/2020 | UD-2020-0038 | Documents from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in Lakewood, CO were lost due to a HVAC pipe break and flood in the building. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0038 Open | |
| Fish and Wildlife Service | 9/23/2020 | 9/23/2020 | UD-2020-0043 | Improper disposal of permit files | Founded | UD-2020-0043 Open/Close |
| Interior | 6/4/2015 | 5/18/2017 | UD-2015-0002 | Software deficiency in DOI's contracted journaling solution potentially caused DOI emails to be delete | Founded | UD-2015-0002 Open/Close |
| Interior | 2/2/2018 | 5/2/2018 | UD-2018-0004 | Temporary contract documents, past their disposal date. | Founded | UD-2018-0004 Open/Close |
| Interior | 3/20/2019 | 6/13/2019 | UD-2019-0018 | Deletion of calendars or calendar entries of Acting Secretary Bernhardt | Unfounded | UD-2019-0018 Open/Close |
| National Park Service | 11/2/2016 | 3/16/2017 | UD-2017-0007 | 1988 fire records regarding fire management decisions and bear incident documents and photographs were deleted by Joan Anzelmo, Public Relations Officer. | Unfounded | UD-2017-0007 Open/Close |
| National Park Service | 1/31/2017 | 4/29/2017 | UD-2017-0014 | Social Media Tweets, tweeted from @BadlandsNPS account on 1/24/2017. | Founded | UD-2017-0014 Open/Close |
| Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians | 11/26/2019 | 3/3/2020 | UD-2020-0017 |
It was discovered that approximately 520 of the approximate 600 cubic feet of incoming and outgoing correspondence including letters, memoranda, and/or manuals were destroyed because they were identified as duplicate documents. |
Founded | UD-2020-0017 Open/Close |
| United States Fish and Wildlife Service | 7/12/2017 | 1/4/2018 | UD-2017-0024 | Documents from US Fish and Wild Service (FWS) political appointee records were not captured. | Founded | UD-2017-0024 Open/Close |
| United States Fish and Wildlife Service | 2/2/2018 | 4/24/2018 | UD-2018-0005 | Fish and Wildlife Service records regarding the Highway 79 Construction Project | Founded | UD-2018-0005 Open/Close |
| US Geological Survey | 5/16/2017 | 5/23/2017 | UD-2017-0020 | Two USGS employees made unauthorized alterations to inputs of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. These input alterations resulted in altered output data from the instrument. | Founded | UD-2017-0020 Open/Close |
| US Geological Society | 2/6/2019 | 6/6/2019 | UD-2019-0011 | Various textual and video records. | Founded | UD-2019-0011 Open/Close |
Justice
| Justice | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms & Explosives | 9/5/2017 | 11/22/2019 | UD-2017-0032 | Laboratory Case files generated between 1976 and 1991 | Founded | UD-2017-0032 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Prisons | 10/21/2019 | UD-2020-0004 | Deletion of prison surveillance video. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0004 Open | |
| Bureau of Prisons | 1/13/2020 | UD-2020-0021 | NARA received a phone call from a staff member of the Bureau of Prisons alleging that one of their locations, FCI Aliceville, is “not maintaining official records properly,” “losing some records,” and “falsifying government records.” | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0021 Open | |
| Drug Enforcement Administration | 10/3/2019 | 1/15/2020 | UD-2020-0003 | During the process to review a draft records schedule NARA noticed that a records series included language that records created in the 70s and 80s have possibly been destroyed. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0003 Open/Close |
| Drug Enforcement Administration | 10/21/2019 | 1/21/2020 | UD-2020-0008 | The Official Government Vehicle (OGV) records such as vehicle registration, titling, and licensing; accident and incident reports; and maintenance and repair receipts were destroyed as a result of Hurricane Dorian. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0008 Open/Close |
| Drug Enforcement Administration | 3/18/2020 | 3/30/2020 | UD-2020-0031 | Drug Signature Analysis Files, permanent under RCS N1-170-00-001/item 3 were erroneously disposed of under RCS NC1-170-77/1/item 901-01 which is temporary. | Founded | UD-2020-0031 Open/Close |
| Executive Office of Immigration Review | 11/18/2019 | 1/21/2020 | UD-2020-0011 | Potential deletion of records pertaining to Immigration Court cases. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0011 Open/Close |
| Executive Office for United States Attorneys | 10/24/2018 | 5/13/2019 | UD-2019-0004 | Records related to USA v. Valera, et al. | Founded | UD-2019-0004 Open/Close |
| Executive Office for United States Attorneys | 9/11/2019 | 1/14/2020 | UD-2019-0056 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0056 Open/Close |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | 2/18/2014 | UD-2014-0001 | FBI Case Files: Case files were identified as missing through the normal course of conducting business, through updating the FBI's records disposition tracking systems, and through the FBI's efforts to inventory its entire records collection. | Pending review/follow-up | No letter available | |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | 10/6/2016 | 12/5/2016 | UD-2017-0002 | Case file 88-PX-11069 partially disposed/destroyed | Founded | UD-2017-0002 Open/Close |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | 1/23/2018 | 7/23/2018 | UD-2018-0003 | Text messages and emails from government and personal devices and accounts pertaining to FBI business. | Unfounded | UD-2018-0003 Open/Close |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | 6/27/2019 | 11/7/2019 | UD-2019-0048 | NARA received of an allegation from a member of the public regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s practices and procedures regarding the designation of email communications as records. |
Founded | UD-2019-0048 Open/Close |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | 10/3/2019 | 12/6/2019 | UD-2020-0002 | Four files were destroyed after their disposition period had ended but were potentially responsive to two FOIA requests. | Founded | UD-2020-0002 Open/Close |
| Justice | 8/14/2019 | 9/10/2019 | UD-2019-0046 | An accidental loss of some email dated between late January 2017 and the end of December 2017. This loss was related to the email migration to a cloud environment during that period, and was discovered in 2018 and investigated in 2018 and 2019 | Founded | UD-2019-0046 Open/Close |
| U.S. Attorneys Office | 2/28/2019 | 3/29/2019 | UD-2019-0013 | Hard drive containing discovery materials | Unfounded | UD-2019-0013 Open/Close |
Labor
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wage and Hour Division | 10/13/2016 | 1/6/2017 | UD-2017-0004 | After an employee whose records were requested by the ALG FOIA left the organization, the e-mail account was deleted (approximately six weeks after the employee left the agency) and ITS has no way to reconstitute these records. | Unfounded | UD-2017-0004 Open/Close |
State
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Citizen Services, Manila Embassy | 9/11/2019 | 11/26/2019 | UD-2019-0051 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0051 Open/Close |
| State | 3/3/2015 | UD-2015-0005 | Alienation of Federal email records created or received by Sec. Clinton (2009-2013) from the State's official recordkeeping system. Potential alienation of email records created or received by former Secretaries of State dating back to Sec. Albright. | Ongoing litigation | UD-2015-0005 Open | |
| State | 9/4/2015 | UD-2015-0006 | Alienation of Federal email records created or received by senior embassy staff including Amb. Caroline Kennedy, and overall management of records at Embassy Tokyo, Japan. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2015-0006 Open | |
| State | 7/18/2016 | 12/15/2017 | UD-2016-0018 | E-mail records of former State Department employee Bryan Pagliano during Secretary Clinton's tenure. | Founded | UD-2016-0018 Open/Close |
| State | 8/8/2016 | 12/10/2019 | UD-2016-0022 | Possible emergency destruction of Central African Republic embassy records; Amb. Lewis Lukens' e-mails that he deleted; U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Michael Ratney's e-mails that he deleted; Alleged destruction of Sec. Clinton's schedules. | Unfounded | UD-2016-0022 Open/Close |
| State | 5/19/2020 | 11/4/2020 | UD-2020-0035 | Member of the public is alleging that the OIG is not designating emails as records unless they receive explicit authorization to do so. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0035 Open/Close |
Transportation
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Aviation Administration | 6/13/2018 | 10/15/2018 | UD-2018-0017 | The FAA Academy trains and evaluates air traffic controllers in simulators that have an audio recording capability. This capability records ambient audio as well as audio directly from the headset of the air traffic control trainee as he speaks instructions to aircraft in the simulator. The FAA admitted that it does not have a retention schedule for such records. Instead, the FAA claimed they must delete the audio within 7 days due to “space limitations." | Unfounded | UD-2018-0017 Open/Close |
| Federal Railroad Administration | 12/14/2016 | 4/6/2017 | UD-2017-0010 | Emails from FRA Administrator and FRA associate Administrator for Finance and Administration. | Founded | UD-2017-0010 Open/Close |
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | 12/9/2019 | UD-2020-0018 | Auto safety records pertaining to rulemaking, promulgation, and implementation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS 208) for AIR BAGS. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0018 Open |
Treasury
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Engraving and Printing | 10/24/2016 | 3/6/2017 | UD-2017-0005 | Video Surveillance Files at District of Columbia and Fort Worth facilities were automatically deleted by the security system because of a lack of space for recording. | Founded | UD-2017-0005 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Engraving Printing | 8/24/2017 | UD-2017-0031 | Preliminary product design records (for currency, etc.) disposed of without an approved schedule. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2017-0031 Open | |
| Financial Crimes Enforcement Network | 5/17/2018 | 6/26/2018 | UD-2018-0013 | Suspicious-activity reports (SARs) discovered absent from the database maintained by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN). | Unfounded | UD-2018-0013 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service | 2/9/2018 | 2/9/2018 | UD-2018-0006 | A single IRS tax document as part of the annual Collection Statute Expiration Date (CSED) “Pull to Save” project for Ogden List Year 10. The document DLN 29-141-235-117-51-0 could not be located upon request. | Founded | UD-2018-0006 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service | 4/10/2018 | UD-2018-0010 | Alienation of IRS Federal Advisory Committee Act email records. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2018-0010 Open | |
| Internal Revenue Service | 5/23/2019 | 10/28/2019 | UD-2019-0024 | One box of IRS records was lost in shipment to San Bruno FRC while in the custody of the United Parcel Service. The box (Box #13 of 20) contained closed legal case files, specifically temporary 2015 closed TECHMIS files, a sub classification of general litigation | Founded | UD-2019-0024 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service | 4/5/2019 | 4/10/2019 | UD-2019-0019 | 82 boxes of closed Criminal Investigation case files were mistakenly picked up by the shred contractor and destroyed. | Founded | UD-2019-0019 Open/Close |
Veterans Affairs
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office of General Counsel | 9/4/2019 | UD-2019-0047 | Improper and accidental loss of military heath, litigation/appeal, and contractor files containing PII. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0047 Open | |
| Veterans Affairs | 2/11/2019 | UD-2019-0012 | Possible alienation of e-mail records resulting from the alleged use of personal e-mail accounts by former Secretary Dr. David Shulkin and others. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0012 Open | |
| Veterans Affairs | 11/20/2019 | UD-2020-0016 | Loss of research study files for approximately 57 inactive research studies, some containing PII following flood damage to the facility housing the records. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0016 Open |
Independent Agencies
|
Agency |
Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative Office of US Courts | 9/11/2019 | 11/26/2019 | UD-2019-0052 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0052 Open/Close |
| Agency for International Development | 9/29/2015 | 10/19/2016 | UD-2015-0007 | Electronic records of Haiti Mission possibly lost during migration from a system of stand-alone computers to a cloud-based office productivity and storage solution. | Founded | UD-2015-0007 Open/Close |
| Agency for International Development | 6/8/2016 | UD-2016-0017 | OIG records including employee travel files, performance evaluations, audit report, prior strategic plans, prior semiannual reports to Congress, prior versions (1998) of the Guidelines for Financial Audits Contracted by Foreign Recipients | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2016-0017 Open | |
| American Battle Monuments Commission | 7/17/2017 | UD-2017-0025 |
Erroneous disposal and removal of various ABMC records and uncaptured emails of ABMC commissioners. |
Pending review/follow-up | UD-2017-0025 Open | |
| Central Intelligence Agency | 12/10/2007 | 2/14/2017 | UD-2008-0001 |
Unlawful destruction by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel of videotapes of detainee interrogations. |
Founded | UD-2008-0001 Open/Close |
| Central Intelligence Agency | 11/4/2020 | UD-2021-0003 | Information received in a letter from American Oversight dated October 22, 2020 regarding their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for emails from the account of Mike Pompeo during his tenure as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2021-0003 Open | |
| Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | 2/1/2017 | 4/13/2017 | UD-2017-0015 |
Electronic Messages of CFPB Director Richard Cordray's personal device was not captured.
|
Founded | UD-2017-0015 Open/Close |
| Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | 8/16/2017 | 8/16/2017 | UD-2017-0029 | Audio Visual Recordings | Founded | UD-2017-0029 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 2/16/2017 | 10/31/2018 | UD-2017-0017 | Use of encryption messaging application, Signal, to achieve specific goals circumventing the governments ability to monitor communication related to government business and to covertly avoid federal records requirements | Unfounded | UD-2017-0017 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 5/17/2017 | 5/23/2017 | UD-2017-0021 |
Permanent EPA records, retention schedule 014. OSRR RIC, were lost in transit between contractor, Smooth Solutions, and the Office of Site Remediation and Restoration Records and Information Center. UPS was unable to recover the package with these records |
Founded | UD-2017-0021 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 4/12/2018 | 4/23/2018 | UD-2018-0011 | Certain emails sent or received by a Regional Counsel employee for EPA Region 1, between February 19, 2013 and August 7, 2017, were inadvertently deleted. | Founded | UD-2018-0011 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 7/10/2018 | 1/31/2019 | UD-2018-0018 | Allegation made by media that former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's official calendar were altered or removed. | Unfounded | UD-2018-0018 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 8/30/2018 | 9/11/2018 | UD-2018-0023 | Official hard-copy records related to 4 EPA OIG audits were accidentally destroyed in March and April 2016 prior to their scheduled destruction date. | Founded | UD-2018-0023 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 10/26/2018 | 11/19/2018 | UD-2019-0006 | EPA OIG closed audit reports, from 2007-2011. During a review of audit files EPA found that some audit files were found to be incomplete and did not contain all expected audit records. EPA believes that some records were inadvertently deleted during a January 2011 file migration. | Founded | UD-2019-0006 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 3/12/2019 | 6/26/2019 | UD-2019-0016 | The EPA's IG reported that EPA employees allegedly destroyed official documents while under audit. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0016 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 11/8/2019 | UD-2020-0013 | EPA's Inspector General is investigating whether Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson was involved in destroying internal documents that should have been retained. | Ongoing inspection | UD-2020-0013 Open | |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 9/8/2020 | 9/8/2020 | UD-2020-0039 | Inadvertent loss of the Microsoft Office365 (Office365) email boxes (mailboxes) of certain former users. | Founded | UD-2020-0039 Open/Close |
| Environmental Protection Agency-Atlanta Regional Office | 10/6/2016 | 1/9/2017 | UD-2017-0003 | Inspections, notices of violation and noncompliance files were improperly disposed. | Founded | UD-2017-0003 Open/Close |
| Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | 8/24/2018 | 11/1/2018 | UD-2018-0022 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Charge File | Unfounded | No letters available |
| Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | 11/5/2019 | 1/16/2020 | UD-2020-0010 |
Records relating to EEOC Case No. 34B-2013-00557 were prematurely destroyed by EEOC’s Las Vegas Office. |
Founded | |
| Executive Office of the President-Council on Environmental Quality | 8/31/2017 | 1/17/2018 | UD-2017-0030 |
On May 19, 2017, the Council on Environmental Quality self-reported on the unauthorized destruction of a box of records that were inadvertently disposed of during an office move. |
Founded | UD-2017-0030 Open/Close |
| General Services Administration | 2/22/2017 | 5/18/2017 | UD-2017-0019 | Allegations of 27 personal email accounts of 18F staff (GSA contractors) were used to send work-related emails without copying government accounts. | Founded | UD-2017-0019 Open/Close |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 7/21/2017 | 10/5/2017 | UD-2017-0026 | 300 magnetic data tape reels for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center dating from 1969-1972, along with two large computers bearing NASA GSFC markings. | Founded | UD-2017-0026 Open/Close |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 3/20/2020 | UD-2020-0032 |
Deletion of emails of departed employees 30 days after their departure |
Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0032 Open | |
| National Council on Disability | 9/11/2019 | 12/3/2019 | UD-2019-0050 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0050 Open/Close |
| National Credit Union Administration | 11/20/2015 | 11/22/2016 | UD-2016-0002 | Email record server deleted in the absence of an agency email management recordkeeping practice, such as print-and-file, or a NARA-approved disposition authority. | Founded | UD-2016-0002 Open/Close |
| Office of Special Counsel | 3/5/2018 | 8/15/2018 | UD-2018-0008 |
The potential unauthorized deletion of electronic files maintained in an electronic folder of an official in the Human Capital Office as well as the removal of boxes of unknown content by an employee. |
Founded | UD-2018-0008 Open/Close |
| Peace Corps | 1/6/2017 | 3/15/2018 | UD-2017-0011 | Peace Corps Capstone approach implemented a system that performed routine 90-day destruction of emails after and employee leaves the Peace Corps. | Founded | UD-2017-0011 Open/Close |
| Securities and Exchange Commission | 1/19/2017 | 4/6/2018 | UD-2017-0013 | Unauthorized destruction and improper handling and maintenance of whistleblower files & SEC government employees are inappropriately using personal email accounts to conduct agency business. | Unfounded | UD-2017-0013 Open/Close |
| Securities and Exchange Commission | 5/14/2019 | 5/28/2019 | UD-2019-0025 |
Lost 202 out of 39,199 records within the Tips, Complaints, and Referrals (TRC) electronic information system during a system migration. |
Founded | UD-2019-0025 Open/Close |
| Social Security Administration | 5/21/2018 | UD-2018-0015 |
A relatively small grouping of Earnings Records (referred to hereafter as “1086 film”) stored on cellulose acetate-based microfilm has begun to deteriorate through a process called “Vinegar Syndrome”, whereby the film outgasses acetic acid and becomes warped, brittle, curled and over time, unusable. |
Pending review/follow-up | UD-2018-0015 Open | |
| Tennessee Valley Authority | 8/17/2020 | UD-2020-0037 |
Tennessee Valley Authority reported that a large water pipe break resulted in the flooding of records storage areas, including its legal research center at the Knoxville Office Complex. |
Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0037 Open |