David S. Ferriero Regarding Recently Released GAO Reports
Press Release · Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Washington, DC

Washington, DC…Today the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released two reports related to the National Archives:  “National Archives and Records Administration:  Oversight and Management Improvements Initiated, but More Action Needed” and “Information Security:  National Archives and Records Administration needs to Implement Key program Elements and Controls”.

The National Archives safeguards billions of records. It is an enormous and complex undertaking made even more challenging by the proliferation of electronic records created and stored on multiple platforms and in an ever evolving variety of formats. All public research institutions face the same risks and challenges that come with managing, preserving, and providing access to original records.

Since becoming Archivist of the United States one year ago, I have committed to making improvements in how we deliver on the National Archives core mission of protecting and providing access to the records of our government. I welcome these audits by GAO and I appreciate that the reports made some helpful recommendations and acknowledged the strides of improvement this agency has been making over the last year. I also agree with GAO that more work needs to be done, both internally at the Archives and across the records management community in the Federal government.

I believe in the talented staff at the National Archives and I am looking forward to working with them to follow through on GAO’s recommendations for improving our performance.

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For more information contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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