FEDERAL ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT: A STATUS REPORT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 17, 2010 Serial No. 111–94 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html http://www.oversight.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 62–947 PDF WASHINGTON : 2011 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:56 Feb 14, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\KATIES\DOCS\62947.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York, Chairman PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania DARRELL E. ISSA, California CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JOHN L. MICA, Florida DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia DIANE E. WATSON, California PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California JIM COOPER, Tennessee JIM JORDAN, Ohio GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JEFF FLAKE, Arizona MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of AARON SCHOCK, Illinois Columbia BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island AHN ‘‘JOSPEH’’ CAO, Louisiana DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland HENRY CUELLAR, Texas PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut PETER WELCH, Vermont BILL FOSTER, Illinois JACKIE SPEIER, California STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio JUDY CHU, California RON STROMAN, Staff Director MICHAEL MCCARTHY, Deputy Staff Director CARLA HULTBERG, Chief Clerk LARRY BRADY, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri, Chairman CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia Columbia JOHN L. MICA, Florida DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio HENRY CUELLAR, Texas JUDY CHU, California DARRYL PIGGEE, Staff Director (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:56 Feb 14, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\KATIES\DOCS\62947.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on June 17, 2010 ............................................................................... 1 Statement of: Ferriero, David S., Archivist of the United States, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, accompanied by Jason Baron, Director of Litigation, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration; Paul Wester, Director, Modern Records Programs, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration; David M. Wennergren, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Information Management, Integration and Technology, Deputy Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of De- fense; and Valerie C. Melvin, Director, Information Management and Human Capital Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office .............. 7 Ferriero, David S. ...................................................................................... 7 Melvin, Valerie C. ...................................................................................... 27 Wennergren, David M. .............................................................................. 18 Wester, Paul .............................................................................................. 12 Hunter, Gregory S., associate professor of library and information science, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus; Carol Brock, certified records manager, representing ARMA International; and Anne Weismann, chief counsel, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington .................................................................................................... 59 Brock, Carol ............................................................................................... 69 Hunter, Gregory S. .................................................................................... 59 Weismann, Anne ....................................................................................... 78 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Brock, Carol, certified records manager, representing ARMA Inter- national, prepared statement of .................................................................. 71 Clay, Hon. Wm. Lacy, a Representative in Congress from the State of Missouri, prepared statement of .................................................................. 3 Ferriero, David S., Archivist of the United States, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, prepared statement of ................................. 10 Hunter, Gregory S., associate professor of library and information science, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, prepared statement of ........ 62 Melvin, Valerie C., Director, Information Management and Human Cap- ital Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office, prepared statement of ..................................................................................................................... 29 Weismann, Anne, chief counsel, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, prepared statement of ........................................................ 80 Wennergren, David M., Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Infor- mation Management, Integration and Technology, Deputy Chief Infor- mation Officer, U.S. Department of Defense, prepared statement of ....... 20 Wester, Paul, Director, Modern Records Programs, U.S. National Ar- chives and Records Administration, prepared statement of ...................... 14 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:56 Feb 14, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\KATIES\DOCS\62947.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:56 Feb 14, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\KATIES\DOCS\62947.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE FEDERAL ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT: A STATUS REPORT THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2010 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:20 p.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay (chair- man of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Clay, Norton, Driehaus, Cuellar, Chu, Issa, and McHenry. Staff present: Darryl Piggee, staff director/counsel; Anthony Clark, professional staff member; Charisma Williams, staff assist- ant; Ron Stroman, full committee chief of staff; Leneal Scott, full committee IT specialist; Rob Borden, minority general counsel; Jen- nifer Safavian, minority chief counsel for oversight and investiga- tions; Adam Fromm, minority chief clerk and Member liaison; Jus- tin LoFranco, minority press assistant and clerk; Christopher Hixon, minority senior counsel; Ashley Callen, Sery Kim, and Jona- than Skladany, minority counsels; and Mark Marin and Molly Boyle, minority professional staff members. Mr. CLAY. Good afternoon. The Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee will now come to order. Without objection, the chairman and ranking minority member will have 5 minutes to make opening statements, followed by open- ing statements not to exceed 3 minutes by any other Member who seeks recognition. And, without objection, Members and witnesses may have 5 legislative days to submit a written statement or extra- neous materials for the record. Welcome to today’s hearing, a status report on Federal electronic records management. My opening statement, which I would have made now, will be entered into the record. However, I would like to address an issue that the minority raised during a hearing held by this subcommittee last week on reauthorizing the National His- torical Publications and Records Commission. My Republican colleagues repeatedly questioned the accuracy of the information provided by a witness, Dr. Ira Berlin, on his disclo- sure form. I had thought that we had resolved the issue during the hearing last week when Dr. Berlin answered the increasingly un- pleasant questions directly. However, in a letter dated yesterday, June 16th, to Dr. Berlin, signed by Mr. Chaffetz of Utah and Mr. Jordan of Ohio, the minority continued to assert that Dr. Berlin (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:56 Feb 14, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\KATIES\DOCS\62947.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE 2 was not accurate and completely forthcoming in his disclosure form and his testimony. Further, the minority asked the Archivist of the United States, Mr. Ferriero, during the hearing for his opinion about duplication among grant programs, and the Archivist gave his opinion. I concur with his opinion, as did the many expert witnesses who came be- fore the subcommittee, that the NHPRC is not duplicative of other programs. And yet, in a second letter, also dated yesterday and sent to Archivist Ferriero, Mr. Chaffetz and Mr. Jordan suggest that the Archivist was not accurate during his testimony at the same hearing. In both letters the minority strongly suggests that the witnesses