Email archiving questions raised in transition of Connecticut governors

Contributed by Debbie Howlett (Jeudi, 16 décembre 2010) | Category : Email archiving

There is a battle brewing between current and future governors of Connecticut over questions being raised concerning an email archiving policy created by the lame duck Rell administration.

Administration officials for Republican Jodi Rell have formulated a policy that calls for the destruction of 161 million emails housed on computer backup tapes 60 days after Rell leaves office in January. The stored emails date back five years.

Many, including Governor-elect Dan Malloy, have questioned the policy, which has not yet been implemented. Malloy recently said he would not allow the stored emails to be deleted.

"I'm somewhat blown away, honestly, that there is not a law currently on the books that would prevent that which was discussed," Malloy, who will take office on Janary 5, said from the state Capitol in Hartford.

That prompted the Rell administration to clarify its stance. Spokeswoman Donna Tommelleo tried to temper the response to the policy by reassuring that information was not being destroyed in the last month of Rell's time in office. Instead, Tommelleo argued, the emails in question were essentially "copies of the copies."

But the email retention policy from the state Department of Information Technology implies otherwise. According to the DOIT policy, "backup tapes will be retained for sixty - 60 days, after which time, any Email and attachments on those back-up tapes will be erased, deleted, or otherwise destroyed, and no longer retrievable or recoverable in any manner."

The policy also calls for the deletion at will of transitory correspondence. Routine correspondence must be archived for two years.

Critics of the email archiving policy, which the Rell administration refers to as a draft, say valuable insights into the inner workings of Rell's six-and-a-half years in office will be lost with the destruction of the tapes.

According to CTNow.com, the website for the Fox television affiliate in the state, Rell's chief of staff Lisa Moody has earned a reputation for deleting or withholding potentially embarrassing emails. The news provider argues that the truth will never be known if the 161 million emails in question are lost forever.

The email retention policy in question received approval from state librarian Kendall Wiggin on April 15. In an email to state chief information officer Diane Wallace approving the policy, Wiggin said the DOIT also had to issue a Memorandum of Understanding to all state agencies that used the email system.