Unauthorized Disposition of Federal Records
Under 44 USC 3106 and 36 CFR Part 1230, "Unlawful or Accidental Removal, Defacing, Alteration, or Destruction of 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." 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.
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.
The table below lists all open and closed cases for the current fiscal year 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 records previously requested in the FOIA Electronic Reading Room.
The table is updated monthly. At the end of the fiscal year, the closed cases will be removed from the table and saved on the Unauthorized Dispositions Closed Cases web page. For information on any cases that closed prior to the end of Fiscal Year 2017, please refer to NARA's Annual Performance and Accountability Reports. Please note Performance and Accountability Reports prior to the 2008 report do not contain information on unauthorized disposition cases. For additional information on older cases, you can review this spreadsheetof all cases that were opened prior to October 1, 2016.
As of September 9, 2020, there are currently 35 open cases and 31 closed cases in this fiscal year.
Current Fiscal Year
| Agency | Secondary Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Records | Status | Case ID | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency for International Development | 7/18/2016 | 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 | UD-2016-0017 Open | ||
| Air Force | 3/3/2020 | Theft of forms containing PII records of personnel by fired employee. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0030 | UD-2020-0030 Open | ||
| Air Force | 2/12/2020 | From 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 | UD-2020-0027 Open | ||
| Air Force | 2/11/2020 | 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 | UD-2020-0026 Open | ||
| Air Force | 7/12/2019 | Permanent Court-Martial Order records dated between 1994-2005 | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0030 | UD-2019-0030 Open | ||
| Air Force | 7/12/2019 | The loss of one retired active duty member's outpatient medical record | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0035 | UD-2019-0035 Open | ||
| American Battle Monuments Commission | 7/11/2017 | Erroneous disposal and removal of various ABMC records and uncaptured emails of ABMC commissioners. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2017-0025 | UD-2017-0025 Open | ||
| Commerce | 10/8/2019 | 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 | UD-2020-0001 Open | ||
| Defense | Office of the Secretary of Defense | 11/14/2019 | 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 | UD-2020-0012 Open | |
| Energy | 1/16/2020 | Allegation of unauthorized destruction of DOE's records at WIPP facility. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0022 | UD-2020-0022 Open | ||
| Environmental Protection Agency | 11/14/2019 | 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 | UD-2020-0013 Open | ||
| Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | 11/14/2019 | Records relating to EEOC Case No. 34B-2013-00557 were prematurely destroyed by EEOC’s Las Vegas Office | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0010 | UD-2020-0010 Open | ||
| Health and Human Services | 4/2/2020 | Premature deletion of email accounts of departed employees. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0033 | UD-2020-0033 Open | ||
| Health and Human Services | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | 2/24/2020 | Emails from their non-capstone officials are being deleted by their ITIO staff after 60 days. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0029 | UD-2020-0029 Open | |
| Health and Human Services | Food and Drug Administration | 2/24/2020 | Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gotlieb's twitter account was deleted | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0028 | UD-2020-0028 Open | |
| Homeland Security | 2/21/2017 | 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 | UD-2017-0018 Open | ||
| Homeland Security | Customs and Border Protection | 7/11/2018 | 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 | UD-2018-0019 Open | |
| Homeland Security | Customs and Border Protection | 10/5/2018 | Border Surveillance Systems Records (BSS). | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0002 | UD-2019-0002 Open | |
| Homeland Security | Immigration and Customs Enforcement | 11/26/2019 | Washington Post article alleges the deletion of surveillance footage relating to the death of detainee. | Ongoing litigation | UD-2020-0009 | UD-2020-0009 Open | |
| Interior | Bureau of Indian Affairs | 2/28/2020 | 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 | UD-2020-0023 Open | |
| Justice | Bureau of Prisons | 1/14/2020 |
Deletion of prison surveillance video. |
Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0021 | UD-2020-0021 Open | |
| Justice | Bureau of Prisons | 10/21/2019 | 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.” | Ongoing investigation | UD-2020-0004 | UD-2020-0004 Open | |
| Justice | Federal Bureau of Investigation | 2/18/2014 | 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 | UD-2014-0001 | No letter available | |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 3/26/2020 | Deletion of emails of departed employees 30 days after their departure | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0032 | UD-2020-0032 Open | ||
| Social Security Administration | 5/21/2018 | 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 | UD-2018-0015 Open | ||
| State | 5/19/2020 | Member of the public is alleging that the OIG is not designating emails as records unless they receive explicit authorization to do so. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2020-0035 | UD-2020-0035 Open | ||
| State | 3/3/2015 | 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 | UD-2015-0005 Open | ||
| State | 9/4/2015 | 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 | UD-2015-0006 Open | ||
| Tennessee Valley Authority | 8/17/2020 |
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 | UD-2020-0037 Open | ||
| Transportation | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | 12/20/2019 | 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 | UD-2020-0018 Open | |
| Treasury | Bureau of Engraving Printing | 8/24/2017 | Preliminary product design records (for currency, etc.) disposed of without an approved schedule. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2017-0031 | UD-2017-0031 Open | |
| Treasury | Internal Revenue Service | 5/15/2018 | Alienation of IRS Federal Advisory Committee Act email records. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2018-0010 | UD-2018-0010 Open | |
| Veterans Affairs | 2/11/2019 | 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 | UD-2019-0012 Open
|
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| Veterans Affairs | 1/16/2020 | 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 | UD-2020-0016 Open | ||
| Veterans Affairs | Office of General Counsel | 9/12/2019 | Improper and accidental loss of military heath, litigation/appeal, and contractor files containing PII. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2019-0047 | UD-2019-0047 Open | |
| Administrative Office of US Courts | 10/8/2019 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0052 | UD-2019-0052 Open/Close | ||
| Air Force | 11/14/2019 | 11/14/2019 | 16 G-series special orders and movement orders at Charleston Air Force Base. | Founded | UD-2020-0007 | UD-2020-0007 Open/Close | |
| Air Force | 12/19/2019 | 12/19/2019 | 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 | UD-2020-0014 Open/Close | |
| Air Force | 1/16/2020 | 1/16/2020 | One box of missing Travel Records and Air Reserve Pay and Allowance System Supporting Documents. | Founded | UD-2020-0019 | UD-2020-0019 Open/Close | |
| Army | 2/11/2020 | 4/10/2020 | Allegation of destroyed training records. | Founded | UD-2020-0024 | UD-2020-0024 Open/Close | |
| Defense | Defense Logistics Agency | 10/18/2019 | 10/18/2019 | 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 | UD-2020-0006 Open/Close |
| Defense | Joint Chiefs of Staff | 6/21/2019 | 10/18/2019 | IT Office deleted information from the J-5 Global Policy and Strategic Planning, National Security Concerns office's shared drive. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0028 | UD-2019-0028 Open/Close |
| Defense | Office of the Secretary of Defense | 12/19/2019 | 12/19/2019 | Loss of hard copy records related to Anti-Deficiency Act | Founded | UD-2020-0015 | UD-2020-0015 Open/Close |
| Education | 5/23/2019 | 10/18/2019 |
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 | UD-2019-0027 Open/Close | |
| Education | 10/8/2019 | 12/11/2019 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0053 | UD-2019-0053 Open/Close | |
| Energy | 9/8/2020 | 9/8/2020 | 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 | UD-2020-0040 Open/Close | |
| Energy | Western Area Power Administration | 10/21/2019 | 10/21/2019 | 29 feet of records created by WAPA’s Audit and Compliance, (date range approximately 1964 – 2008). | Founded | UD-2020-0005 | UD-2020-0005 Open/Close |
| Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | 11/14/2019 | 1/16/2020 | Records relating to EEOC Case No. 34B-2013-00557 were prematurely destroyed by EEOC’s Las Vegas Office | Founded | UD-2020-0010 | UD-2020-0010 Open/Close | |
| Health and Human Services | Centers for Disease Control | 10/8/2019 | 11/26/2019 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0054 | UD-2019-0054 Open/Close |
| Homeland Security | Transportation Security Administration | 6/25/2019 | 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 | UD-2019-0044 Open/Close | |
| Interior | Bureau of Ocean Energy Management | 11/12/2019 | 11/12/2019 |
A potential loss of permanent records of 5-Year Program Final Product documents. |
Founded | UD-2019-0057 | UD-2019-0057 Open/Close |
| Interior | Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians | 12/11/2019 | 2/28/2020 | 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 | UD-2020-0017 Open/Close |
| Justice | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms & Explosives | 9/5/2017 | 11/22/2019 |
Laboratory Case files generated between 1976 and 1991 |
Founded | UD-2017-0032 | UD-2017-0032 Open/Close |
| Justice | Drug Enforcement Administration | 11/21/2019 | 1/21/2020 |
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 | UD-2020-0008 Open/Close |
| Justice | Drug Enforcement Administration | 10/3/2019 | 1/15/2020 |
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 | UD-2020-0003 Open/Close |
| Justice | Drug Enforcement Administration | 3/30/2020 | 3/30/2020 | 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 | UD-2020-0031 Open/Close |
| Justice | Executive Office of Immigration Review | 12/2/2019 | 1/21/2020 |
Potential deletion of records pertaining to Immigration Court cases. |
Unfounded | UD-2020-0011 | UD-2020-0011 Open/Close |
| Justice | Executive Office for United States Attorneys | 10/8/2019 | 1/14/2020 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0056 | UD-2019-0056 Open/Close |
| Justice | Federal Bureau of Investigation | 9/10/2019 | 11/7/2019 |
NARA received of an allegation from a member of the public regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s practices |
Founded | UD-2019-0048 | UD-2019-0048 Open/Close |
| Justice | Federal Bureau of Investigation | 12/6/2019 | 12/6/2019 | Four files were destroyed after their disposition period had ended but were potentially responsive to two FOIA requests. | Founded | UD-2020-0002 | UD-2020-0002 Open/Close |
| National Council on Disability | 10/8/2019 | 12/3/2019 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0050 | UD-2019-0050 Open/Close | |
| Navy | 9/23/2019 | 1/16/2020 |
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 | UD-2019-0049 Open/Close | |
| Navy | 10/8/2019 | 2/6/2020 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0055 | UD-2019-0055 Open/Close | |
| State | 8/8/2016 | 12/10/2019 |
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 | UD-2016-0022 Open/Close | |
| State | American Citizen Services, Manila Embassy | 10/8/2019 | 11/26/2019 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0051 | UD-2019-0051 Open/Close |
| Treasury | Internal Revenue Service | 5/23/2019 | 2/3/2020 |
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 | UD-2019-0024 Open/Close |