By THERESA POULSON
Those preparing to depart from the Executive Office of the President may be packing up their picture frames and coffee mugs, but, because of a district court ruling [PDF] made today, they'll have to turn over their memory sticks, CDs and DVDs before they walk out the door.
United States District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. granted an emergency motion from the National Security Archive that requires the EOP to search all of its computer workstations. All EOP employees must surrender any media that may contain e-mails from March 2003 to October 2005.
The archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics have an ongoing suit against the EOP and the National Archives and Records Administration, seeking to preserve as many as 5 million White House e-mails that were declared missing during the Scooter Libby trial. The archive is hoping to find out more about how the e-mails were lost by looking at the EOP media.
All of the physical records from the White House will be carted away to NARA on the morning of Jan. 20. National Security Archive counsel Meredith Fuchs told National Journal that there is a hearing today to address whether additional steps need to be taken during the physical transfer of e-mail backup tapes.
Fuchs spoke with National Journal in November about the need for a stringent e-mail archiving system in the executive branch.
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