State Department Watchdog Says Too Few Emails Saved for Public Record

Credit: Hisham Ibrahim/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Office of the Inspector General released a report on Wednesday detailing the State Department’s public record-keeping habits regarding emails, finding that a substantial amount of government information may not be preserved.

According to the report, in 2011, State Department employees created more than one billion emails. That year, only 61,156 were marked to be preserved for public records. In 2013, the number of record emails was just 41,749.

The OIG speculates that some employees may not create record emails “because they do not want to make the email available in searches or Fear that this availability would inhibit debate about pending decisions.”

The report noted that department employees need “better guidance and training in records management.” Many who failed to record emails as intended told the OIG that they were “unaware of what types of information should be saved as record emails.”

The OIG recommended that the Bureau of Administration create a new process to review record email usage by bureaus and provide feedback, to use focus groups of government employees to “identify practical examples of official records,” and issue guidance to State Department employees to remind them of their responsibilities as far as record-keeping.

The report comes out in the wake of controversy after it was revealed that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exclusively used her personal email address while serving in that capacity. Questions have been raised about whether or not Clinton’s emails were properly archived, and whether she properly supplied all emails including government information to the department after leaving her post.

Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.