Reward Offered for Missing Presidential Records

A two-terabyte external hard drive containing Clinton Administration Presidential and federal records went missing from The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The agency is offering $50,000 for information leading to its return.

The Western Digital MY BOOK drive was last seen between October 2008 and February 2009, but its mysterious disappearance was not noticed until the end of March. Fortunately for NARA, a backup HDD, as well as the original sources for the records are safe, so no permanent loss of information has occurred.

The data-storage device is said to contain snapshots of the hard drives of workers departing from the Executive Office of the President (EOP), which include electronic address books and the personal information of White House visitors.

"Because some of the EOP offices engaged in personnel related work (e.g., the Office of Administration and the Presidential Personnel Office (PPO)) or maintained electronic files containing privacy information, such as White House entry information or electronic address books, the external drive contains personally identifying information (PII), including names and social security numbers for former Clinton Administration staff and visitors to the White House complex," NARA announces.

In fact, this is the biggest concern for the agency, which is working its way through the massive amount of data on the backup HDD in order to identify individuals whose privacy might have been compromised. Upon identification, these will be immediately notified and will be offered a one-year free subscription with a credit-monitoring service.

Upon becoming aware of the possible data leak incident, NARA notified the Acting Archivist of the United States, the Inspector General (IG), and the Senior Agency Official for Privacy/General Counsel, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team of the Department of Homeland Security, the White House Counsel’s Office, the staff of the House and Senate Oversight Committees, and the representative of former President Clinton.

A criminal investigation into the matter has been opened, but it is yet unclear whether the HDD, which went missing from a National Archives processing room, has been stolen, lost, or otherwise misplaced. Nevertheless, the agency is hoping to recover it, hence the $50,000 reward. "NARA has taken several steps to improve internal controls in the following areas: physical control of records, office access, and treatment of personally identifiable information (PII)," is also noted in the official Q&A document (PDF) regarding this incident.