White House directed to preserve backup tapes containing millions of e-mails

[truthpusher]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge is ordering the White House to preserve copies of all e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers have argued strongly against.

The order directs the Executive Office of the President to safeguard the material in response to two lawsuits seeking to determine whether the White House has destroyed e-mails in violation of federal law.

Two organizations allege the disappearance of 5 million White House e-mails, but the White House is seeking dismissal of the suits.

The Federal Records Act details strict standards prohibiting destruction of government documents, including electronic messages, unless first approved by the archivist of the United States.



Read more: http://www.newschannel10.com/global/story.asp?s=7348842

[hisownpetard]

1. What's the rush?

[DCKit]

7. Bwahahaha! Series! They could have re-created the whole thing by now. nt

[hisownpetard]

8. Yeah, in virtual time! nt

[gratuitous]

2. White House responds to federal judge

"What backup tapes?"

[Ready4Change]

31. I'd laugh, but...

I'd laugh, but that is exactly what I'm expecting to hear regarding this.

It's like the request was delayed in order to allow the destruction of records.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong. Not holding my breath.

[tanyev]

3. Gov. Perry in Texas is having some email trouble, too.

They've been automatically destroying everything after 7 days unless there was a request. Interesting that he claims he is just continuing the policy that was put in place by Gov. Bush.

Activist blocks purges of Perry e-mails
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=180x46723

[bcool]

39. Blunt is destroying emails in MO, too

Gov. Blunt has been accused of purging emails in the Governor's office, too...I tried to get a link to the article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, but I can't find it.

I guess this is a new page from the Republican playbook - purge your emails so they can't get caught.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Yeah, right. Like something bad is going to happen to them if they ignore this order???

They have done whatever the hell they damn pleased up until now....why should they be expected to change their attitude at this point? Have they EVER been held responsible for any of their actions??

[Liberty Belle]

45. Obstruction of justice is what got Nixon nearly impeached & forced to resign.

If Congress had a backbone, ignoring this order this should be enough to bring down the regime.

[BrklynLiberal]

50. but BushCo even owns the Supreme Court. I am very pessimistic....

[rodeodance]

5. grand news.

[rodeodance]

6. I love these nicks to the WH/Jr-week after week

[lovuian]

9. they have managed to delay and delay

by the time we get the emails the Prez term will be up unless like Mushareff he just says screw the election I'm staying

[QMPMom]

10. Hmmmm....... I seem to remember something about

18 missing minutes on some tapes a while back...........

I wonder if this will have an equivalent? How many e-mails will have "accidentally" gotten erased by a secretary's wandering delete finger?

[laconicsax]

11. Why can't the judge

just ask AT&T or the NSA for the e-mails? Or is there a limit to 'all internet traffic' that excludes the White House

[guruoo]

12. You know the NSA's got 'em. n/t

[jgraz]

13. Judge slaps White House with restraining order

Source: COX Newspapers

U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. issued a temporary restraining order today against the White House, ordering its executive office to preserve all records and back-up copies of millions of missing e-mails.

“Defendants shall preserve media, no matter how described, presently in their possession or under their custody or control, that were created with the intention of preserving data in the event of its inadvertent destruction,” wrote Kennedy in a Nov. 12 opinion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The order was sought by the National Security Archive, a public interest library at George Washington University, and the Washington-based watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

The groups alleged in separate, but now combined, complaints, that the preservation of more than 5 million missing e-mails is vital to the preservation of history as they reveal the inner thinking of President Bush’s top aides between 2002 and 2007.

“The judge’s order shows that the loss of the e-mail records is a serious problem,” said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel at the archive.

Read more: http://www.coxwashington.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/washington/secrecy/entries/2007/11/12/judge_slaps_white_house_with_r.html

---

More at link, including a photo of one of the judgiest-looking judges I've ever seen.

[rodeodance]

14. oh. LOVE that HEADLINE!

[Paulie]

15. What about all records at the RNC

which had White House staff actively performing their public funded job through this private groups email system.

[rockybelt]

20. RNC

Can't you just see the fires in the trash barrels going like crazy?

I just hope he's not too late for the WH.
Their house may be starting to crumble, yes?

[goforit]

16. Now whatcha gonna do if the WH disobeys? Arrest their asses?

[fascisthunter]

17. WOW! Any Legal minds out there want to chime in?

Is this as big as I think it is?

[aquart]

18. What?? Some kind of ACTION happened???

I have to sit down now and fan myself.

[earth mom]

19. You can bet your sweet bippy those shredders are working overtime as we speak!

:puke:

[tridim]

25. It's funny, earlier today outside my office window I saw a Cintas truck..

labeled, "Mobile Shredding Unit".

I commented to my coworker that that truck should probably be parked outside the WH instead. I read this story about an hour after the truck left. :)

[Pavulon]

44. Data is not destroyed

by shredders or physical means. The AES256 key that was used to encrypt the data on its way to tape or on disk is simply erased.

Once the key is gone, the data will never be retrieved in public.

[superconnected]

21. Great Headline!

[immoderate]

22. That link doesn't work for me...

Am I the only one? :shrug:

--IMM

[superconnected]

28. Nope, I don't expect the junta to hand over the server backup tapes

I expect them to be being erased right now.

[shanti]

59. unfortunately

they've been erased a LOOOONG time ago.

[classysassy]

23. The not so supreme

court will side with the criminals at the white house.

[Gregorian]

24. I'm no lawyer, but this is what I was saying should be done, six months ago.

Yeah! I'm not so dumb after all.

Woo hoo.

Although you can bet the majority of incriminating documentation is vapor. However, you never know.

[Canuckistanian]

26. At least it's on record now

ANY deletions from here on in can be considered a crime.

By the way, it would be a much more serious crime than Bill Clinton's if breached.

Clinton NEVER had a restraining order of ANY kind.

[NBachers]

30. Retroactive & Future Immunity

Maybe DiFi and Schumer can arrange total retroactive and future immunity for their White House wipe-out cohorts.

[Canuckistanian]

48. I'm sure they'd personally delete the files themselves

If Bush invited them on an AF1 flight.

[Sam Ervin jret]

27. The "delete" buttons should have all ben removed long ago .

The loud thunder you hear is Bush friends, co-workers, families rushing to IT nerds trying to get the "how-to" on getting away with secret deletions.

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT GUYS!

[Jackpine Radical]

34. The Clintonistas should have removed the Delete buttons instead of the "W"s

on the computers when they left the White House.

(Yeah, I know, I know, it was a bad rap.)

[Sam Ervin jret]

42. But Funny, you gotta' have a laugh, and that was a good one!

[appal_jack]

29. Yeah! B*sh has been Fuchs'ed!!!

“The judge’s order shows that the loss of the e-mail records is a serious problem,” said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel at the archive.

How does it feel to get Fuchs'ed B*sh? (With all apologies to the good archivist Ms. Fuchs, but the name is too good to leave out in this context. Maybe getting Fuchs'ed could become the new term for whenever dastardly deeds are exposed?)

B*sh has been F***ing us for years, without our consent or pleasure. Here's hoping that those PUBLIC e-mails see the light of day, and the PUBLIC then decides based on the evidence revealed that this whole criminal madministration belongs behind bars.

-app

[Gregorian]

32. Fuch Bush.

Hey, it sort of has a ring to it. :)

I thing good things are just ahead. Well, good by comparison.

[Gman]

33. Ho Ho Ho Ho, Ha Ha Ha Ha!!

Those silly lawyers think the WH is going to obey an order from a court, what the WH considers an inferior branch of government that is to be ignored by the complete and whole unitary executive branch.

Ho, hum... the Wh will think about it and get back to them sometime in the next 10 years, ... maybe.

So what's anybody going to do about it?

[shanti]

60. exactly

bad boys, bad boys, whatch gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you!

[pinto]

35. Yes! A record, on the books.

[mod mom]

36. A federal judge ordered Ohio preserve their 2004 ballots and they blatantly did not.

sometimes hiding the crime is less costly than the penalty for disobeying a judge.

[Botany]

38. LOL

I did not see your post before I posted ....

My Fav excuse .... Holmes County ... well the coffee maker fell over and broke
into the box thar had the ballots and they got all wet and their was broken glass
so we had to thrown 'em out. (I would have thought you could have dried them
out and swept away the glass).

Ohio 2004 the biggest story never told.

[mod mom]

46. A Ohio Political reporter told me that had the Dem Party cried foul, they would have taken

notice. Of course the problem with this statement is they should have made the truth the issue, not what interested parties wanted.

[Botany]

37. A federal judge told the Ohio BOEs to keep the ballots & data from '04.

56 of the 88 Counties went ahead and destroyed them anyway.

To think that bush & company are going to comply with a judge's
order is a real stretch.

[mod mom]

47. We witnessed the same crime, hence the similar posts.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

40. Good thing I kept a backup copy of mine, here's an example.....

Subj: (no subject)
Date: 10/14/05 1:56:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: DancersLanguage
To: [e-mail]
CC: DancersLanguage




October 14, 2005


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101302166.html

President Bush,

As Commander-in-Chief, why haven't you addressed the problem computers at the DoD?
As Commander-in-Chief, why do you allow our military wounded and their families to go through the additional trauma of being burdened with medical bills and collection agencies?

As Commander-in-Chief, how can you say our sons and daughters have died for a noble cause, when you don't care enough to stop the harassment from the government over medical bills on the wounded? How "noble" this is.

How many tens of thousands have been wounded, some with injuries so severe they will never be the person they once were, and how many of the families, wives, children, parents have had to live through not only this loss, but thousands of dollars of bills for the injuries their loved one has endured for a cause that you yourself created?
What is the real reason these Americans, and us Americans on the home-front have shed tears for in this contrived war? You are a disgrace to freedom, not a force for democracy.
XXXXXXX X XXXXXX
OHIO

I deleted my name here because, Privacy Matters.

[focusfan]

41. listen they can get the administrations emails

all they have to do is take there hard drive out and look at
it.

[Pavulon]

43. No, not really.

I would assume they are using a pki system to protect files on spinning disk and on tape. This would be using an algorithm that will not be publicly reversed by any agency that could (aes256 for example)

When I travel I am sure the machine is using a cryptographically protected HD.

My point, unless you have the keys uses to write out the cyphertext you will not recover any usable data from backup media or a disk.

Destroying keys is the current way to comply with regulatory or security concerns.

[LiberalFighter]

49. If they are not going to preserve emails then they shouldn't be

allowed access to the internet.

[bobthedrummer]

51. Judge Orders White House to Hold E-Mails

Source: by Peter Yost AP via Guardian

A federal judge ordered the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7072349,00.html

[MadMaddie]

52. Judge orders White House to follow existing law!!

Rembers * wanted to be the CEO of America. Well if any CEO of a big company deleted records that he legally must keep he would be prosecuted. I say lets prosecute the CEO of America.

[pfitz59]

53. Kinda late in the game...

The Bushistas have had 6+ years to scrub the national archives of both Baby Bush and daddy bush's crimes. Our best hope is that an insider grows a conscience and "Deep throats" the admin. I doubt the new Atty Gen will do anything. The Senate testimony proves he's another toady.

[AndyTiedye]

54. Do You Hear the Sound of a Thousand "Delete" Keys Working Overtime?

[Bitwit1234]

55. And you think they will??

[awoke_in_2003]

56. Of course not. He's the decider (sarcasm tag not needed). nt

[donsu]

57. like they have any intention of doing that

they do what they want and smirk at us

[Doctor_J]

58. White House laughs out loud

:eyes:

[rodeodance]

61. kinda late for this isn't it?