Lois’s defense...
What if the message does not qualify as a record?
Delete e-mail that is not a record when no longer of use.
Records that directly deal with an agency’s mission are required to be kept. This is to give future researchers a chron record of how an agency operates, decisions are made, etc.
Believe me, I’ve saved a lot of such emails and they have recently become invaluable to show new staff (from various agencies) how I developed a “search” program to find missing government documents worth hundreds of millions of dollars, or more re litigation.
I also kept hard copies (for those who don’t know what “paper” is, it is a xerox copy/print out) and when the electricity fails, a binder of them is worth its weight in gold.
Screw an EMP, I have my paper files.
Personal emails and junk notices are not required to be kept and are asked to be deleted to save space.
Lerner is screwed, and I’m loving it.