[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 65 (Monday, April 5, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17716-17717]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-7569]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION


Office of Presidential Libraries; Disposal of Superseded Version 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

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Presidential Records Act notice of disposal of superseded 
version of Clinton Administration electronic mail records; final agency 
action.

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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 Archives II in College Park, Maryland, 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 more comprehensive set of the same 
records on a different set of electronic media.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The disposal will occur on or after June 4, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deputy Assistant Archivist for 
Presidential Libraries Sharon Fawcett, National Archives and Records 
Administration (NL), 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland 20740-
6001, tel. 301-837-3250, or by fax to 301-837-3199; or by e-mail to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NARA published a ``Presidential Records Act 
notice of proposed disposal of superseded version of Clinton 
Administration electronic mail records '' on December 30, 2003, in the 
Federal Register (68 FR 75286) for a 45 day comment period. NARA 
received two comments via e-mail, one from the President of the Terry 
County Historical Commission in Brownfield, Texas, and one from a 
private individual. The following is a summary of the comments and 
NARA's response:
    Summary of Comments: Both commenters objected to the disposition of 
presidential records, and suggested that the records at issue may 
include important historical information and that such information may 
be lost if the data contained on the electronic media is subject to 
disposition. One commenter suggested that NARA might wish to donate the 
materials to a library rather than act to dispose of the electronic 
media.
    NARA Response: As explained in detail in the original Federal 
Register notice, the copies of Presidential e-mail records contained on 
the 27,866 cartridges proposed for disposition constitute an incomplete 
and superseded subset of the Presidential e-mail record series from the 
Executive Office of the President (EOP) in the Clinton Administration 
that NARA has otherwise obtained in multiple electronic formats. 
Because NARA has a separate, more comprehensive set of Clinton e-mail 
records that includes all of the e-mails on these cartridges, no 
information will be lost by disposing of this incomplete set. Due to 
continuing restrictions on access to Presidential records, donation of 
the electronic media at issue to an outside institution is not legally 
permissible.
    NARA Action: NARA will proceed to dispose of 27,866 volumes of 
class 3480 magnetic tape cartridges, consisting of an incomplete and 
superseded set of email records created from July 15, 1994 through 
December 1999, because NARA has determined that they lack

[[Page 17717]]

continuing administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary 
value. As stated in our prior notice, NARA will be able to respond to 
future access requests for Clinton Administration e-mail records from 
the EOP through a separate database NARA received from the EOP. For 
further details, see the notice of proposed disposal at 68 FR 75286. 
This notice constitutes NARA's final agency action pursuant to 44 
U.S.C. 2203(f)(3).

    Dated: March 29, 2004.
John W. Carlin,
Archivist of the United States.
[FR Doc. 04-7569 Filed 4-2-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7515-01-P