NARA: If any agency employee uses a personal account to engage in official business, they must copy an official account or forward their message to an official account within 20 days. Image: danielo/Shutterstock.com
The National Archives and Records Administration has sent a reminder on records retention requirements under the Federal Records Act including as it pertains to records generated or received on personal devices that, while primarily aimed at political appointees, also applies to federal managers, executives and other employees.
“All federal employees create and manage records as an integral part of their responsibilities in performing agency missions,” it says, saying that agencies should “communicate the importance of their records management responsibilities to all staff, including political appointees.”
“The emergence of—and increasing reliance upon—new forms of electronic communication can make records management more challenging, but no less important. The FRA imposes strict requirements on the use of personal accounts to conduct agency business,” it says. “If any agency employee uses a personal account to engage in official business, they must copy an official account or forward their message to an official account within 20 days.”
“The use of the auto-delete function on digital messaging applications may prevent agency officials from meeting this critical obligation, possibly resulting in the permanent loss of federal records,” it adds.
It adds that “questions related to FRA compliance may also arise when agencies transfer their functions to other agencies,” for example as part of the type of reorganization and consolidation that the Trump administration wants for many agencies. During such actions, it says, agencies must ensure that paper and electronic records are properly identified and segregated from non-records; and that paper and electronic records are transferred to another agency, put in inactive storage or disposed of in accordance only under a NARA-approved procedure.
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