With Bush administration White House aides on their way out the door in coming days, a federal judge this morning ordered the president’s executive office to undertake a comprehensive search for millions of senior appointees’ e-mails that have been inaccessible and possibly missing since 2005.The order reflects a continuing effort by outside groups to ensure that the White House transfers historically significant materials to the National Archives on or before next Tuesday, as required by federal law. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. demanded that officials search computer workstations, preserve thumb drives and examine e-mail archives created or retained by White House employees from 2003 to 2005, the period in which a records gap exists.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011401957.htmlWhite House ordered to search employee computers for missing e-mails
A federal court ordered on Wednesday all employees working in the Bush White House to surrender media that might contain e-mails sent or received during a two and a half year period in hope of locating missing messages before President-elect Barack Obama takes over next week.The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an emergency motion to extend an order to protect missing White House e-mails. The Bush administration has been under fire since a 2005 analysis identified a period of more than 700 days during which the number of White House e-mails were either unrealistically low or nonexistent.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090114_4453.php
Judge Orders Search of Bush Administration Appointees’ E-Mails
With Bush administration White House aides on their way out the door in coming days, a federal judge this morning ordered the president’s executive office to undertake a comprehensive search for millions of senior appointees’ e-mails that have been inaccessible and possibly missing since 2005.