CREW CHIEF COUNSEL ANNE WEISMANN RESPONDS TO WHITE HOUSE ATTACK

5 Dec 2007 // Anne Weismann, CREW's chief counsel, made the following statement following the White House's attack on CREW (view the White House statement below):

Today, as it did when first pressed for confirmation about the millions of emails that have gone missing from White House servers, the White House opted to attack the source, CREW, as a “liberal group.”

Notably, however, the White House did not deny that more than 10 million email over a two and one-half year period are missing. This is the number that confidential sources tell CREW most accurately describes the volume of missing email. And this is the number that is reflected in internal White House documents that CREW has requested, but the White House has refused to produce in response to a Freedom of Information Act request CREW filed many months ago. That request is now the subject of litigation in which the White House has advanced the newly minted legal theory that the Office of Administration is suddenly no longer an agency subject to the FOIA.

Equally fallacious is the White House’s assertion that CREW’s claims center on the absence of a back-up system. CREW sought and was granted a preservation order that requires the White House to preserve all back-up copies of emails, no matter how preserved, precisely because CREW knew that the White House follows a practice of backing up its email servers. The far more serious matter that CREW has identified is the complete and utter failure of the White House to have an electronic record-keeping system in the first place.

Back-up systems are intended to be used for disaster recovery; they are no substitute for a record-keeping system that would ensure that White House records are properly preserved for their rightful owners -- the American people. As to back-ups of the missing e-mail, the White House – as is typical with this administration – has refused to provide any evidence that they still exist, stating only that there may be back-up copies. It is time for the White House to stop slinging mud and start being accountable to the public.

If CREW has its facts wrong -- and we do not believe that to be the case -- let the White House come forward with its evidence.

White House Statement:

"CREW has yet to provide any basis for their assertions -- be it their original assertion, or their new claim. We are aware that some e-mails may not have been automatically archived in the past, but they may be available on backup tapes. Unlike what the liberal group CREW has asserted, we've never been without a backup system. The Office of Administration at the White House has been maintaining and preserving backup tapes for the official email system."

-Scott Stanzel
White House Spokesman