Most people tend to think about records management as a boring, tedious task. Not so! When records management goes wrong and important records turn up missing, headline-worthy scandals can ensue. As USA Today reports, “Biden and Trump documents expose wider problem: Missing classified records not uncommon.”
It’s not just classified records, either. Even less sensitive records can still cause massive headaches when they go missing. In the UK, for example, veterans have sued the government over missing medical records. Missing records can have negative consequences for real people.
It’s a mystery that needs answering: why do so many government records end up missing?
Sometimes, the reasons are sinister. Records might be intentionally destroyed to cover up wrongdoing or to rewrite history, as with the shredders of Watergate (and the infamous missing 18.5 minutes from the Nixon tapes).
However, such situations are not representative. More commonly, the problem starts with the simple vastness of government operations. Federal, state, and local agencies churn out an astonishing volume of records every day. From policy memos to budget reports, from emails to handwritten letters, the sheer quantity is staggering. In this digital age, the rise of electronic records has only multiplied the sheer increase in records. “We can no longer keep our heads above the tsunami of digitally created classified records,” wrote Mark Bradley, head of the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office, in 2021.
Dealing with this deluge is particularly difficult when resources are limited. For instance, the annual funding for the National Archives itself has remained essentially “stagnant” for decades when adjusting for inflation, according to a March 2022 report, despite the exponential proliferation of government records in that timeframe.
Human error can also obviously play a role. Misfiling, mislabeling, or simply misplacing documents are all-too-human foibles that can lead to records slipping through the cracks. The constant rotation of personnel in government agencies exacerbates the issue. Each transition can be a potential point of failure in the continuity of recordkeeping.
Then there’s the delicate dance of technology. Digital records can be ephemeral, subject to data corruption, hardware failures, or simply becoming obsolete due to rapid technological advancements. The ease of bulk data deletion and the capability to overwrite digital records make it possible for records to vanish at the push of a button, whether due to negligence or intent. Worse, many Electronic Records Management systems are simply unequal to the task of modern records management. (For help evaluating ERMs, read our guide).
Managing the risk of missing records starts with prioritizing records management in the first place. That said, like the National Archives itself, many agency records managers have no choice but to do the best they can with the resources available to them. Some steps that can help:
- Establish comprehensive records management policies that govern the entire lifecycle of records, from creation to disposal, and clearly define roles and responsibilities within the organization.
- Select and utilize an ERM that offers the combination of functional sophistication and user-friendliness to help users manage growing mountains of records promptly and accurately.
- Provide regular training and education to prevent unintentional missteps resulting from simple ignorance or unfamiliarity with records management tools or processes.
- Conduct regular audits and compliance checks to ensure records management policies are being followed and to identify any gaps or deficiencies to be corrected in the recordkeeping process.
Ultimately, in this tale of vanished records, there is no single antagonist, but a confluence of factors—resources stretched thin, human vulnerability to error, technological obsolescence, and occasionally, sinister motives. To preserve the historical record, government agencies must prioritize meticulous recordkeeping, invest in digital preservation, and remain vigilant against the forces that seek to make records disappear.
About PSL
PSL is a global outsource provider whose mission is to provide solutions that facilitate the movement of business-critical information between and among government agencies, business enterprises, and their partners. For more information, please visit or email info@penielsolutions.com.