Quoting WALLIS Dwight D <[log in to unmask]>:

> That's a
> public trust which, in my opinion, should not be outsourced,
> particularly to a contractor which would have an over-whelming bias
> towards the national security/non-disclosure outcome.

The whole "contractors with records" thing gives me (to use the 
technical term) heebie-jeebies anyway.  Back in the day, we collected 
federal records which had "gotten away" several times when an engineer 
or project manager went off to work for (insert your favorite beltway 
bandit name) and taken "his" records with him.  Maybe in file cabinets, 
maybe in "classified strength" file cabinets, maybe in boxes. Sometimes 
the person would still be working for the gov't but ready to retire.  
If the documents were left, they'd probably wind up being incinerated 
because that is "easier than getting them reclassified."

Do I have any idea who had access to the records when they were out in 
Rockville (or another city).  Does anyone?  Were they still classified? 
Yep.  When I got them, were some of a higher clearance level than I 
should have seen? Yep.  Should they have all been together?  No.

Should they have been that highly classified in the first place?  I 
doubt it. Some people just go "stamp crazy" and I might have seen the 
same information in  a popular magazine or research journal. Often what 
is classified isn't policy but a measurement.  Pretty silly if the 
device is 50+ years old and everyone including the high school shop 
class can already can build one, and what is classified doesn't even 
tell you how to build it.

It is expensive to keep records classified because they have to stay in 
special places and be handled in special ways.


Carole "unfortunately not an archivist these days" Nowicke
--
Carole Nowicke, PhD, MLS
[log in to unmask]

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>