[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75286-75287]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-31926]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION


Office of Presidential Libraries; Proposed Disposal of Superseded 
Version of Clinton Administration Electronic Mail Records

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Presidential Records Act notice of proposed disposal of 
superseded version of Clinton Administration electronic mail records; 
request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has 
identified an incomplete version of Presidential records on electronic 
media, housed at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland 
facility, as appropriate for disposal under the provisions of 44 U.S.C. 
2203(f)(3). This notice describes the records and our reasons for 
determining that the records have insufficient administrative, 
historical, informational, or evidentiary value to warrant their 
continued preservation, in light of the fact that NARA is maintaining a 
comprehensive set of the same records on a different set of electronic 
media. NARA will review timely public comments received on this notice 
before making a final determination on the disposal of the records.
    This notice does not constitute a final agency action, as described 
in 44 U.S.C. 2203(f)(3), and no Presidential records will be disposed 
of following this notice. NARA will publish a second notice only after 
it has considered any comments received during this 45-day notice. The 
second, 60-day notice will constitute a final agency action, in the 
event NARA proceeds with disposal.

DATES: Comments must be received by February 13, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments regarding the proposed disposal of these 
Presidential records must be sent in writing to the

[[Page 75287]]

Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries, National Archives and 
Records Administration (NL), 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland 
20740-6001 or by fax to 301-837-3199; or by e-mail to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon Fawcett at 301-837-3250.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following materials are proposed for 
disposal because NARA has determined that they lack continuing 
administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value.
    NARA is proposing the disposition of 27,866 class 3480 magnetic 
tape cartridges, consisting of an incomplete set of e-mail records 
created from July 15, 1994 through December 1999, and originally 
captured on the Automated Records Management System (ARMS) as created 
by staff in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) during the 
Clinton Administration. ARMS consisted of an electronic recordkeeping 
system for the preservation of e-mail records and any attachments 
thereto, plus pager and calendar records. These cartridges were 
transferred to NARA at the end of the Clinton Administration.
    ARMS records on the 27,866 cartridges were in turn subject to 
reformatting pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding entered into 
between NARA and the EOP, signed on October 6 and 8, 1999, respectively 
(1999 MOU). Under the 1999 MOU, NARA requested that the EOP Office of 
Administration (OA) convert attachments from hexadecimal to native 
format. NARA also asked OA to format the files to contain as many 
records as would fit in a single file. This reformatting resulted in 
reducing the number of tape cartridges necessary to store the records 
from approximately 28,000 down to 4,000. Accordingly, OA produced and 
transferred to NARA a second set of approximately 4,000 tape cartridges 
in a NARA-preferred format.
    The latter reformatted set of cartridges also reflects the results 
of OA conducting an extensive Tape Restoration Project (TRP), pursuant 
to a second MOU between NARA and OA entered into on January 11, 2001, 
aimed at ensuring that a comprehensive set of e-mail records from the 
Clinton Administration be transferred to NARA. This restoration work 
has been completed, and as a result a separate and comprehensive set of 
Clinton Administration Presidential record e-mail records, as well as 
pager and calendar entries, currently resides on the 4,000 cartridges, 
in a preservation master copy set, and in an automated database 
operated and maintained by NARA staff. These latter collections, which 
incorporate the work of the TRP, contain approximately 1 million 
additional e-mail records that were not originally captured by ARMS and 
which are not otherwise preserved on the 27,866 cartridges at issue. 
(E-mail records on these cartridges separately covered under the 
Federal Records Act have also been captured on the 4,000 cartridges and 
will be included in the automated database, and thus may be disposed of 
under existing Federal Records Act disposition authority.)
    The copies of Presidential e-mail records contained on the 27,866 
cartridges constitute an incomplete and superseded subset of the 
Presidential e-mail record series from the Clinton Administration EOP 
that NARA has otherwise obtained in electronic form. NARA will be fully 
able to respond to future access requests for Clinton Administration e-
mail records from the EOP through the above-described database, and has 
no need or use for the additional set of these records contained on 
these cartridges.

    Dated: December 19, 2003.
Richard L. Claypoole,
Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries.
[FR Doc. 03-31926 Filed 12-29-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7515-01-P