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White House: Computer hard drives tossed
AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/21/08 | Pete Yost - ap

Posted on 03/21/2008 7:37:36 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

WASHINGTON - Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.

The White House revealed new information about how it handles its computers in an effort to persuade a federal magistrate it would be fruitless to undertake an e-mail recovery plan that the court proposed.

"When workstations are at the end of their lifecycle and retired ... the hard drives are generally sent offsite to another government entity for physical destruction," the White House said in a sworn declaration filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola.

It has been the goal of a White House Office of Administration "refresh program" to replace one-third of its workstations every year in the Executive Office of the President, according to the declaration.

Some, but not necessarily all, of the data on old hard drives is moved to new computer hard drives, the declaration added.

In proposing an e-mail recovery plan Tuesday, Facciola expressed concern that a large volume of electronic messages may be missing from White House computer servers, as two private groups that are suing the White House allege.

Facciola proposed the drastic approach of going to individual workstations of White House computer users after the White House disclosed in January that it recycled its computer backup tapes before October 2003. Recycling — taping over existing data — raises the possibility that any missing e-mails may not be recoverable.

At a House committee hearing last month, a computer expert who previously worked at the White House called the e-mail system "primitive" and said it was set up in a way that created a high risk that data would be lost from White House servers where it was being archived.

Under pressure to provide details about its computer system, the White House told the congressional committee that it never completed work that began in 2003 on a planned records management and e-mail archiving system. The White House canceled the project in late 2006 and says it is still working on a new version.

In the absence of a permanent archiving system, the White House has been archiving e-mails on White House servers since early in the administration.

The White House says it does not know if any e-mails are missing, but is looking into the matter.

It would be costly and time-consuming for the White House to institute an e-mail retrieval program that entails pulling data off each individual workstation, the court papers filed Friday state.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; computer; harddrives; recycle; tossed; whitehouse; wildgoosechase
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1 posted on 03/21/2008 7:37:37 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

i’m sure google has a copy of those emails somewhere.


2 posted on 03/21/2008 7:40:19 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Osama: the ultimate superdelegate.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Good. How about getting hard drives from Congress and dig through all their files and emails?


3 posted on 03/21/2008 7:41:12 PM PDT by Always Right (Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?)
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U.S. President George W. Bush (L) speaks about "The National President's Challenge" in the East Garden of the White House in Washington while Eli Manning, quarterback for the New York Giants football team, and fitness celebrity Denise Austin, listen March 20, 2008. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES)


4 posted on 03/21/2008 7:41:42 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline —1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRGeT)
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To: NormsRevenge

It’s happened before. To bad Nixon slipped up...


5 posted on 03/21/2008 7:42:02 PM PDT by tubebender
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To: NormsRevenge

LOL!


6 posted on 03/21/2008 7:42:17 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life)
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To: Liberty Valance

Good.


7 posted on 03/21/2008 7:43:14 PM PDT by JaneNC (I)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

I'm fighting a damn'd war on terrorism and the democrats want to
dic around with old emails ,, talk about your screwed up priorities.

(what I wish he said.)

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

9 posted on 03/21/2008 7:48:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline —1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRGeT)
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To: m3d1um

I’m amazed that anyone is amazed that hard drives are destroyed. I’d destroy them too.


10 posted on 03/21/2008 7:48:18 PM PDT by Taliesan
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To: NormsRevenge

I’m glad the lessons of Nixon’s office tapes have not been lost on the Bush Administration. This data would simply have been fodder for more wasted time by the lowest-rated Congress in modern history.


11 posted on 03/21/2008 7:48:43 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee ("A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.")
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To: m3d1um

Care to get into any specifics?


12 posted on 03/21/2008 7:49:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: m3d1um

Yo! Most of them are Clinton holdovers.. thank you Algore.
Take your embarassment to the next National Security Breach that compromises this nation more than the WaPo, NYT, PSMNBC
etc.


13 posted on 03/21/2008 7:49:36 PM PDT by acapesket (never had a vote count in all my years here)
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To: m3d1um

I’m proud of them. I crack my old hard drives open and smash them with a hammer.


14 posted on 03/21/2008 7:50:17 PM PDT by frankjr
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To: NormsRevenge

Denise Austin is hot for her age.


15 posted on 03/21/2008 7:50:22 PM PDT by Perdogg (Reagan would have never said "She's my girl")
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To: NormsRevenge

16 posted on 03/21/2008 7:51:23 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat ((I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!))
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To: m3d1um

WTF??

If you own a busniess and you have anything to do with HIPPA rules (you do if you offer employess heath insurance) and you just throw your computer in the trash and it is discovered by a third party and turned into the Feds or State, you’d get the book thrown at you.


17 posted on 03/21/2008 7:52:17 PM PDT by The South Texan (The Drive By Media is America's worst enemy and American people don't know it.)
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To: m3d1um
This administration is unbelievable. I’m ashamed at the level of corruption and damage GWB and his cronies has done to the Republican party.

What are you jabbering about? They cannot leave the hard drives around for every Hillary, Nancy and Harry to look through, copy, save, etc. For the sake of National Security the hard drives needed to be destroyed. They saved the e-mails. They said they destroyed the hard drives...did they also say they destroyed the back-ups? ;)

18 posted on 03/21/2008 7:52:26 PM PDT by madison10
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To: Perdogg

She used to serve in a similar fitness council role when GHW Bush was in office.. she’s probably mid 40 50ish now but looking good.


19 posted on 03/21/2008 7:52:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline —1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRGeT)
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To: NormsRevenge
I call BS. Somewhere there are servers with the messages stored. Old emails never die, they just wait to bite you on the a$$.
20 posted on 03/21/2008 7:53:42 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (John McCain - The Manchurian Candidate? http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm)
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