September  16,  2010  

The  Honorable  Joe  Lieberman   The  Honorable  Susan  Collins  

Senate  Homeland  Security  and  Governmental   Senate  Homeland  Security  and  Governmental  
Affairs  Committee   Affairs  Committee  
United  States  Senate   United  States  Senate  
340  Dirksen  Senate  Office  Building   350  Dirksen  Senate  Office  Building  
Washington,  DC  2010   Washington,  DC  2010  
 
Dear  Chairman  Lieberman  and  Ranking  Member  Collins:  
 
We  are  writing  in  support  of  H.R.  1387,  the  Electronic  Message  Preservation  Act,  and  to  urge  you  to  take  
up  the  bill  before  the  end  of  the  year.    

Under  current  law,  federal  agencies  have  broad  discretion  to  determine  how  electronic  messages  are  
preserved.    Investigations  and  reports  by  Congressional  Committees,  several  nonprofits,  and  the  
Government  Accountability  Office  (GAO)  document  the  significant  deficiencies  in  the  preservation  of  
email  by  the  federal  government.  Since  the  introduction  of  this  bill  in  the  House,  the  National  Archives  
and  Records  Administration  (NARA)  released  the  results  of  an  assessment  of  records  management  
programs  in  the  Federal  Government  that  revealed  79%  of  reporting  Federal  agencies  have  moderate  to  
high  levels  of  risk  of  records  loss  associated  with  their  electronic  records  management  programs.    

H.R.  1387  directs  the  Archivist  to  establish  standards  for  the  capture,  management,  and  preservation  of  
tŚŝƚĞ,ŽƵƐĞĂŶĚŽĨĂŐĞŶĐŝĞƐ͛Ğ-­‐mails,  and  certification  standards  for  any  electronic  records  
management  systems  implemented  at  agencies.    While  we  would  prefer  Congress  pass  a  bill  that  
requires  agencies  to  implement  records  management  systems  that  are  consistent  with  modern  
technology,  this  legislation  demonstrates  the  concern  of  Congress  about  this  serious  issue,  and  takes  a  
first  step  to  ensure  that  these  vital  records  are  preserved  for  the  public.  

Thank  you  in  advance  for  your  attention  to  this  critical  aspect  of  government  management  and  
accountability.  We  welcome  the  opportunity  to  discuss  H.R.  1387  and  the  systemic  problems  with  
electronic  record  management  in  general.  To  arrange  a  meeting,  please  feel  free  to  contact  Patrice  
McDermott,  Director  of  OpenTheGovernment.org  at  pmcdermott@openthegovernment.org  or  
202/332-­‐6736.  

Sincerely,  

American  Association  of  Law  Libraries  

American  Library  Association  

Association  of  Research  Libraries  

Citizens  for  Responsibility  and  Ethics  in  Washington  (CREW)  

Defending  Dissent  Foundation  

Electronic  Frontier  Foundation  

Essential  Information  

Government  Accountability  Project  (GAP)  

iSolon.org  

The  Multiracial  Activist  

National  Coalition  for  History  

National  Freedom  of  Information  Center  

National  Whistleblower  Center  

New  Mexico  Foundation  for  Open  Government  

OpenTheGovernment.org    

Project  On  Government  Oversight  (POGO)  

Public  Employees  for  Environmental  Responsibility  (PEER)  

Reporters  Committee  for  Freedom  of  the  Press  

Society  of  American  Archivists  

Society  of  Professional  Journalists  

Special  Libraries  Association  

Sunlight  Foundation  

US  Bill  of  Rights  Foundation  

cc:  Senator  Tom  Carper,  Chair,  Senate  Homeland  Security  and  Governmental  Affairs  Subcommittee  on  
Federal  Financial  Management,  Government  Information,  Federal  Services  and  International  Security