Unauthorized Disposition of Federal Records
Federal agencies are required to "notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, corruption, deletion, erasure, or other destruction of records in the custody of the agency" (36 CFR Part 1230). The Records Management Oversight and Reporting Program is responsible for handling all unauthorized disposition cases. Oversight and Reporting also receives notifications from other sources such as the news media and private citizens. NARA establishes unauthorized disposition case files to track each allegation and any communications with the agency until the issue is resolved.
The unauthorized disposition case file contains more information including the communications between NARA and the agency. If you would like more information on a case, please contact the NARA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office to file a FOIA request for the case information. Please use the Case ID indicated on the below table in your FOIA request. You can also see some previously requested records in the FOIA Electronic Reading Room. For additional information on older cases, you can review this spreadsheetof all cases that were closed prior to October 1, 2016.
Listed below are unauthorized disposition cases from October 1, 2016 to present and includes pdf files of open and close letters (when available or permissible) for each case from NARA to the agency. By default, cases are listed in Case ID order (e.g., UD-FYFY-XXXX) and the dates below are formatted as FYFY-MM-DD.
For more information, please review this document To report a case of unauthorized disposition, please contact us via email at UnauthorizedDisposition@nara.gov.
Departments
- Agriculture
- Commerce
- Defense
- Education
- Energy
- Health and Human Services
- Homeland Security
- Housing and Urban Development
- Interior
- Justice
- Labor
- State
- Transportation
- Treasury
- Veterans Affairs
Independent Agencies
Agriculture
| Agency | Open Case Date | Close Case Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture |
2021/04/19
|
2021/04/19
|
UD-2021-0026 | Records destroyed because of black mold | Founded | UD-2021-0026 Open/Close |
| Agriculture |
2021/05/21 |
2022/03/29
|
UD-2021-0031 | Allegation stated that on January 19 and 20, 2021, USDA Acting State Director unlawfully destroyed federal government records in the form of tweets from the Rural Development Puerto Rico Twitter account. | Founded | UD-2021-0031 Open/Close |
| Agriculture |
2021/09/27
|
2021/09/27 |
UD-2021-0048 | A potential loss of records from mobile device end users in staff offices, business centers, and agencies across the Department | Founded | UD-2021-0048 Open/Close |
| Agriculture |
2023/07/06
|
2023/11/15 |
UD-2023-0074 | Potential loss of records from the mobile device of a departed political appointee in the Office of Communications. | Founded | UD-2023-0074 Open/Close |
| Agriculture |
2023/08/22
|
2023/08/22 |
UD-2023-0088 | During the migration of the USDA Contact Center from the existing platform to the new platform, the Search Activity object, also referenced as Knowledge Search Activity, which stores search metadata for the Salesforce Knowledge base was affected, causing the loss of all data captured on the ‘SearchActivity’ object prior to May 1, 2022. | Founded | UD-2023-0088 Open/Close |
| Agriculture |
2024/01/17
|
2024/01/17 |
UD-2024-0023 | A temporary 1996 case file, Docket Number AWA-96-35 was discovered to be missing a series of boxes after recalling the transfer from the FRC. | Founded | UD-2024-0023 Open/Close |
| Agriculture | 2024/07/24 | 2024/07/24 | UD-2024-0063 | FPAC-EPAD AFIDA program contacted FPAC Business Center, October 5, 2023, regarding the potential loss of records containing PII of foreign investors. On November 8, 2023, FPAC-EPAD reported five case files missing in their entirety and six case files with missing documents. | Founded | UD-2024-0063 Open/Close |
| Agriculture | 2024/10/15 | UD-2024-0079 | The agency, USDA, reported the potential loss of up to 770 GB of "personal email" records created by USDA employees and maintained on Google Mail and Drive applications between 2010 to present. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2024-0078 Open | |
| Agriculture Research Service |
2022/02/18
|
2022/02/18 |
UD-2022-0025 | Financial records went missing after an employee retired. | Founded | UD-2022-0025 Open/Close |
| Agriculture Research Service |
2022/04/20
|
2022/04/20 |
UD-2022-0037 | ARS employee lost 6 electronic receipts for purchases made in 2021. | Founded | UD-2022-0037 Open/Close |
Commerce
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commerce |
2019/10/01
|
2024/09/24 | UD-2020-0001 | The Washington Post published an article on September 30, 2019, alleging that Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, used personal email for official business and did not consistently preserve his government-related email messages properly. | Founded | UD-2020-0001 Open/Close |
| National Institute of Standards and Technology |
2021/04/15 |
2021/09/30 |
UD-2021-0024 | Early destruction of email records
NIST disposed of about 83 boxes of records in May due to a flood that affected our Records Holding Area in late December. |
Founded | UD-2021-0024 Open/Close |
| National Institute of Standards and Technology |
2023/09/19
|
2023/09/19 |
UD-2023-0096 | NIST disposed of about 83 boxes of records in May due to a flood that affected our Records Holding Area in late December. | Founded | UD-2023-0096 Open/Close |
| National Institute of Standards and Technology |
2024/03/22
|
2024/03/22 |
UD-2024-0043 | 23 boxes of payroll and labor records and reports for budgetary purposes from FY 2019 and 2020 were prematurely shredded. | Founded | UD-2024-0043 Open/Close |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
2017/07/10
|
2018/10/19 |
UD-2017-0023 | NOAA might illegally be destroying records (electronic messages through Skype and Google Chat) of a recent meeting discussing new regulations against the fishing industry. | Unfounded | UD-2017-0023 Open/Close |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
2022/04/20
|
2022/04/20 |
UD-2022-0033 | Agency self-reported the unauthorized disposition of archived email records. | Founded | UD-2022-0033 Open/Close |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
2022/08/05
|
2022/08/05 |
UD-2022-0057 | Emergency destruction of nitrate film records, spanning from 1891-1951, from the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) and National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). | Founded | UD-2022-0057 Open/Close |
| U.S. Patent and Trademark Office |
2016/02/10
|
2019/02/12 |
UD-2016-0005 | The potential unauthorized disposition of records related to the sale of patent documents to the owner of Riverby Books in Washington, DC. | Unfounded | UD-2016-0005 Open/Close |
| U.S. Patent and Trademark Office |
2018/07/26
|
2018/09/27 |
UD-2018-0021 |
Utility patent drawings for sale on eBay.
|
Unfounded | UD-2018-0021 Open/Close |
| U.S. Patent and Trademark Office |
2021/04/15
|
2024/04/17
|
UD-2021-0022 | Destruction of permanent hard-copy trademarks after digitization. | Founded | UD-2021-0022 Open/Close |
Defense
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force |
2016/05/18 |
2017/07/11 |
UD-2016-0013 | Loss of personnel records (DD-214’s and Special Orders) at Malmstrom AFB, Montana that may have occurred during input of hardcopy records into Automated Records Management System (ARMS) administered by Air Force Personnel Center. | Founded | UD-2016-0013 Open/Close |
| Air Force |
2018/10/22 |
2018/10/22 |
UD-2019-0003 | Alleged alteration of an individual's Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD-214) from the Air Force | Unfounded | No letters available |
| Air Force |
2019/06/12 |
2019/07/11 |
UD-2019-0029 | One permanent record copy of the G-series special orders and movement orders from April 2-8, 2008 | Founded | UD-2019-0029 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 2019/06/12 | 2024/07/26 | UD-2019-0030 | Permanent Court-Martial Order records dated between 1994-2005 | Founded | UD-2019-0030 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 2019/06/12 |
2019/09/10 |
UD-2019-0031 | 214 boxes of various temporary and permanent records. Permanent records that were lost include aircrew and mission flight files, G-series special orders and movement orders, and military justice files. Temporary records include tactical evaluations, foreign military sales records, decorations, and other project and administrative files. | Founded | UD-2019-0031 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 2019/06/12 |
2019/07/12 |
UD-2019-0033 | One box of permanent G-series special orders and movement orders dating January 1983 and six boxes of temporary Decorations to Individuals (Military and Civilian) Disapproved U.S. Military records (1991, 1994, 1999-2002) | Founded | UD-2019-0033 Open/Close |
| Air Force | 2019/06/12 |
2019/07/23 |
UD-2019-0034 | Five boxes of records. Temporary records included motor vehicle operations and accident files and travel records. Permanent records included G-series special orders and movement orders. | Founded | UD-2019-0034 Open/Close |
| Air Force |
2019/06/18 |
2022/09/23 |
UD-2019-0035 | On May 21, 2019, the loss of one retired active duty member's outpatient medical record was declared. Record not recovered. | Founded | UD-2019-0035 Open/Close |
| Air Force |
2019/06/18 |
2019/07/12 |
UD-2019-0036 | One implant device and medical equipment log. | Founded | |
| Air Force |
2019/06/18 |
2019/07/11 |
UD-2019-0037 | 500 decorations citations | Founded | UD-2019-0037 Open/Close |
Education
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education |
2019/05/21 |
2019/10/18 |
UD-2019-0027 | Secretary's use of personal email. Messages involving the Secretary's personal email accounts were preserved in the accounts of other Department political employees included in the messages. However there were instances where the Secretary did not forward emails from her personal accounts to her Department email accounts. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0027 Open/Close |
| Education |
2019/09/11 |
2019/12/11 |
UD-2019-0053 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0053 Open/Close |
| Federal Student Aid |
2021/07/27 |
2021/10/18 |
UD-2021-0037 | Allegation of unauthorized disposition of Federal Student Aid (FSA) records. | Unfounded | UD-2021-0037 Open/Close |
Energy
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonneville Power Administration | 2024/10/23 | 2024/10/23 | UD-2025-0003 | The agency reported the loss of voice recordings used to support several functions to include the IT Help Desk, Trading Floor Desk, Hydro Duty Scheduling Desk, and Slice Desk. The records were discovered irretrievable during an internal audit. | Founded | UD-2025-0003 Open/Close |
| Energy |
2010/12/21 |
2017/08/28 |
UD-2011-0001 | Federal records were turned over to the Colorado School of Mines by current and former Department of Energy employees between 1989 and 1994. | Founded | UD-2011-0001 Close Letter Only |
| Energy |
2020/01/13 |
2020/04/14 |
UD-2020-0022 | Allegation of unauthorized destruction of DOE's records at WIPP facility. | Founded | UD-2020-0022 Open/Close |
| Energy |
2020/09/08 |
2020/09/08 | UD-2020-0040 |
Department of Energy’s Office of Counsel discovered that ½ cubic foot of temporary OGE-450 form records were damaged due to a water leak caused by a pipe burst in an administrative file room. |
Founded | UD-2020-0040 Open/Close |
| Energy |
2021/01/11 |
2021/01/11 | UD-2021-0012 | The Department of Energy’s (DOE) discovery of the unauthorized disposition of 11 pages of environmental records. | Founded | UD-2021-0012 Open/Close |
| Energy |
2021/08/17 |
2024/04/17 |
UD-2021-0043 | 60 cubic feet of missing administrative, environmental, medical, facility, and scientific research records at the Argonne National Laboratory. | Founded | UD-2021-0043 Open/Close |
| Energy |
2023/03/22 |
2023/03/22 | UD-2023-0038 | The agency reported the loss of one (1) box of Worker's Compensation Records at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), West Paducah, Kentucky. The records were lost due to a termite infestation. | Founded | UD-2023-0038 Open/Close |
| Energy |
2023/06/20 |
2023/06/20 |
UD-2023-0071 | Agency reported that emails from twenty-eight (28) Office of Science (SC) employees accounts were lost due to mailbox limits and failure to appropriately manage the accounts. The employees employees had Google G suite email accounts in addition to their federally managed DOE email accounts. | Founded | UD-2023-0071 Open/Close |
| Energy |
2024/03/14 |
2024/04/09 |
UD-2024-0039 | The agency reported the accidental disposal of several boxes of X-ray films at the Seattle FRC. The films deteriorated due to water damage. | Unfounded | UD-2024-0039 Open/Close |
| Energy | 2025/03/03 | UD-2025-0031 | A former contract employee has alleged that 6 boxes of historical data relating to environmental cleanup were removed from their former contractor facility. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0031 Open |
Health and Human Services
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status |
Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administration for Children and Families | 2025/01/14 | UD-2025-0016 | The New York Review of Books December 5, 2024 article titled Torn Apart alleged that between 2017 and 2020 Office of Refugee Resettlement head Scott Lloyd directed directed staff to not keep lists of the children separated from their parents and to “get rid of” those list that they did have. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0016 Open | |
| Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality |
2020/02/12 |
2020/05/06 |
UD-2020-0029 | Emails from their non-capstone officials are being deleted by their ITIO staff after 60 days. | Founded | UD-2020-0029 Open/Close |
| Centers for Disease Control |
2019/09/11 |
2019/11/26 |
UD-2019-0054 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0054 Open/Close |
| Centers for Disease Control |
2020/12/16 |
2021/01/28 |
UD-2021-0008 | Allegation of attempts to conceal and destroy evidence that senior political appointees interfered with career officials' response to the coronavirus crisis at HHS and the CDC | Unfounded | UD-2021-0008 Open/Close |
| Centers for Disease Control |
2023/04/10 |
UD-2023-0039 | BSPB staff placed several boxes (15-20) that contained SBRL lab data in a smartcard-locked hallway. After staff had left the office for the day, two cleaning contractors removed and placed all the boxes into a compactor dumpster, without authorization from BSPB staff. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2023-0039 Open | |
| Centers for Disease Control |
2023/04/07 |
2023/02/23 |
UD-2023-0043 |
Allegation received from the public that the CDC deleted emails of non-Capstone officials within 30 days after they left the agency. |
Unfounded | UD-2023-0043 Open/Close |
| Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services |
2016/06/07 |
2017/01/10 |
UD-2016-0015 | Email records created or received by CMS - OEDA Office. Anonymous allegation that Niall Brennan, Chief Data Officer and Director of OEDA directed his staff "to establish personal email accounts on non-government systems." | Unfounded | UD-2016-0015 Open/Close |
| Centers for Medicare and Medicaid |
2018/10/02 |
2018/11/09 |
UD-2019-0001 | Documents submitted via Healthcare.gov pertaining to the income of healthcare applicants | Unfounded | UD-2019-0001 Open/Close |
| Food and Drug Administration |
2020/02/12 |
2022/05/16 |
UD-2020-0028 | Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gotlieb's Twitter account was deleted | Founded | UD-2020-0028 Open/Close |
| Food and Drug Administration |
2022/07/11 |
2022/11/21 |
UD-2022-0052 | An information technology (IT) system does not retain records documenting a full audit trail. | Unfounded | UD-2022-0052 Open/Close |
Homeland Security
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customs and Border Protection |
2017/11/13 |
2018/04/24 |
UD-2018-0001 | Several boxes of paper records were destroyed due to Hurricane Harvey | Founded | UD-2018-0001 Open/Close |
| Customs and Border Protection |
2018/07/11 |
2020/12/14 |
UD-2018-0019 | Media reported that Customs and Border Protection officials were altering or deleting records of families crossing the border between Mexico and the United States. | Unfounded | UD-2018-0019 Open/Close |
| Customs and Border Protection |
2018/10/04 |
2020/12/02 |
UD-2019-0002 | Border Surveillance Systems Records (BSS). | Founded | UD-2019-0002 Open/Close |
| Customs and Border Protection |
2021/10/26 |
2025/03/25 | UD-2022-0001 | OIG report, “CBP Targeted Americans with the 2018-2019 Migrant Caravan,” alleges that the CBP has been using the messaging software WhatsApp and is deploying the encrypted messaging application Wickr across all components of the agency. | Founded | |
| Customs and Border Protection |
2023/10/31 |
2024/01/08 |
UD-2024-0002 | During a routine call between NARA appraisal staff and the CBP records team, it was learned that the CBP Office of Trade has been digitizing and destroying records proposed for disposition in job DAA-0568-2019-0004, Trade Allegation Records, which is pending. The original records that were reported as having been destroyed are identified as appropriate for permanent retention. | Unfounded | UD-2024-0002 Open/Close |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
2012/10/31 |
2016/11/22 |
UD-2013-0002 | Email records related to the management of grant funds awarded by FEMA to DVIC. | Unfounded | UD-2013-0002 Open/Close |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
2022/02/18 |
2023/10/27 |
UD-2022-0023 | Allegation from a member of the public that the FEMA was destroying records that were subject to a FOIA request and litigation and were related to ongoing EEO cases. | Unfounded | UD-2022-0023 Open/Close |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
2023/10/31 |
2023/12/18 |
UD-2024-0006 | Disaster files were destroyed before the end of their retention period. | Founded | UD-2024-0006 Open/Close |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency | 2025/03/17 | UD-2025-0039 | An organization has alleged that records of a "Pride Chat" Discussion group maintained in Microsoft Teams were destroyed. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0039 Open | |
| Homeland Security |
2017/02/21 |
2022/08/12 |
UD-2017-0018 | Email using private (non-.gov) account for Secretary Jeh Johnson, Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Chief of Staff Christian Marrone, & General Counsel Steven Bunnell. All emails date from December 23, 2013 through the present. | Founded | UD-2017-0018 Open/Close |
Housing and Urban Development
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing and Urban Development |
2022/11/08 |
2023/03/29 |
UD-2022-0064 | As a result of the HUD OIG investigation into potential ethics violations of a now-former executive, it was determined that the former executive used her personal device to send and receive phone calls and text messages. After she left the agency in 2021, she did not turn over the information on her cell phone. | Unfounded | UD-2022-0064 Open/Close |
| Housing and Urban Development | 2024/10/29 | 2024/12/18 | UD-2025-0004 | The agency reported "a possible case of unauthorized destruction of Federal records." Stating that they are "investigating and at this point have only preliminary information at this point regarding the facts of this matter." NOTE - Will update this entry as more information becomes available. | Founded | UD-2025-0004 Open/Close |
| Housing and Urban Development | 2025/01/21 | UD-0025-0024 | President of AFGE National Council 222, representing HUD bargaining unit employees, notified AOUS's office that 432,000 pages (200 boxes) of agency records (permanent / temporary) from HUD's Office of General Counsel (OGC), Office of Fair Housing (OFH) were unauthorized or improperly disposed of based on a whistleblower's first hand account. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0024 Open |
Interior
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Indian Affairs |
2018/05/31 |
2018/06/01 |
UD-2018-0016 | One FRC box of 3401-P5 Housing Improvement (HIP) Applicant Case Files, FY 1960 - 2006. | Founded | UD-2018-0016 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs |
2019/01/31 |
2019/04/25 |
UD-2019-0010 | Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) reports and information pertaining to Irrigation and Power Investments | Unfounded | UD-2019-0010 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs |
2020/02/03 |
2020/04/13 |
UD-2020-0023 | Private citizen alleges that BIA has destroyed records related to " All correspondence and related records from the Pacific Regional Office and the Southern California Agency of the BIA, regarding the incorrect degree of Indian blood certification." | Founded | UD-2020-0023 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs |
2020/08/05 |
2020/09/22 | UD-2020-0036 | Potential loss of a file packet of an individual | Founded | UD-2020-0036 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs |
2021/11/22 |
2022/02/08 |
UD-2021-0014 | BIA misplaced a probate case file | Founded | UD-2021-0014 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs |
2023/01/04 |
2024/04/30 |
UD-2023-0014 | TeMoak tribal attorney alleged that certain individuals removed “TeMoak federal records, documents, and financial records off of TeMoak trust land.” | Unfounded | UD-2023-0014 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs |
2023/01/25 |
UD-2023-0019 | A formal BIA employee allegedly removed BIA records when they departed the agency. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2023-0019 Open | |
| Bureau of Land Management |
2017/02/16 |
2018/08/15 |
UD-2017-0016 | Fire damaged/destroyed the Bureau of Land Management Challis, ID field office. The majority of records destroyed/damaged include realty records, rights-of-way, recreation records, unauthorized use, grazing permits, allotment files, and mining claim surface management files. The contractor was hired to evaluate the records that were damaged/destroyed as a result of the fire. The agency is estimating that a final report from the contractor that will include an estimate of records destroyed and recovery efforts for those that can be salvaged will be received in the July/August time frame. | Founded | UD-2017-0016 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Land Management |
2017/07/27 |
2017/08/24 |
UD-2017-0027 | On December 27, 2016, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee in the Salt Lake Field Office (SLFO) prematurely disposed of physical land-use (film) permits in an effort to make space for additional records. The records that were disposed of were the original records in paper form covering FY 1990 through FY 2015 and included correspondence, applications, maps, permits, payment receipts, serial register pages, and related materials. Approximate volume 8 cubic feet. | Founded | UD-2017-0027 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Land Management |
2022/05/13 |
2022/05/13 |
UD-2022-0041 | Two boxes of FY2016-2016 hardcopy file incident records | Founded | UD-2022-0041 Open/Close |
Justice
| Justice | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms & Explosives |
2017/09/05 |
2019/11/22 |
UD-2017-0032 | Laboratory Case files generated between 1976 and 1991 | Founded | UD-2017-0032 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms & Explosives |
2021/07/12 |
2021/07/12 |
UD-2021-0036 | Report of the box that went missing during the transfer of records from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Field Office to the NARA Federal Records Center (FRC) located in Chicago, IL. | Founded | UD-2021-0036 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms & Explosives | 2025/01/28 | UD-2025-0029 | ATF had an electronic system, DFuze, that was used to track explosives incidents. It was taken offline, decommissioned, and replaced. These files/records should have been accessioned into the National Archives when the system was decommissioned but were not. Agency claims the cost of reloading the software and extracting the data in a readable format at this point is insurmountable, and the records are effectively lost. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0029 Open | |
| Bureau of Prisons |
2019/10/21 |
UD-2020-0004 | NARA received a phone call from a staff member of the Bureau of Prisons alleging that one of their locations, FCI Aliceville, is “not maintaining official records properly,” “losing some records,” and “falsifying government records.” | Ongoing investigation | UD-2020-0004 Open | |
| Bureau of Prisons |
2020/01/13 |
UD-2020-0021 | Deletion of prison surveillance video. | Ongoing investigation | UD-2020-0021 Open | |
| Bureau of Prisons |
2024/03/11 |
UD-2024-0034 | OIG investigation determined that BOP facilities are not retaining Special Housing Unit Logs for their approved retention period. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2024-0034 Open | |
| Bureau of Prisons |
2024/04/22 |
2024/10/29 | UD-2024-0047 | A Bureau of Prison employee alleges that a BOP Human Resources Manager altered the recipients sent to and replied in government communications. | Unfounded | UD-2024-0047 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Prisons | 2025/01/23 | UD-2025-0030 | An employee of Bureau of Prisons contends that records were altered when a series of "vouchers"--a form of merit promotion record check--were allegedly fabricated. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0030 Open | |
| Drug Enforcement Administration |
2019/10/03 |
2020/01/15 |
UD-2020-0003 | During the process of reviewing a draft records schedule, NARA noticed that a records series included language that records created in the 70s and 80s have possibly been destroyed. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0003 Open/Close |
| Drug Enforcement Administration |
2019/10/21 |
2020/01/21 |
UD-2020-0008 | The Official Government Vehicle (OGV) records such as vehicle registration, titling, and licensing; accident and incident reports; and maintenance and repair receipts were destroyed as a result of Hurricane Dorian. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0008 Open/Close |
Labor
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Labor Statistics |
2023/04/27 |
2023/06/05 |
UD-2023-0049 | NARA staff reported that permanent records relating to the National Labor Turnover Program have not been accessioned into the National Archives. After numerous transfer requests, the agency stated they no longer have the records. | Founded | UD-2023-0049 Open/Close |
| Occupational Safety and Health Administration | 2025/02/11 | UD-2025-0021 | A member of the public has alleged that the Director of the OSHA office in Hasbrouck, NJ office destroyed a document personally addressed that person. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0021 Open | |
| Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
2024/03/21 |
2024/12/18 | UD-2024-0041 | NARA staff at the Philadelphia FRC reported the loss of 1 box of Department of Labor, OSHA Health and Safety Inspections non-textual media records. The records were lost in shipment. | Founded | UD-2024-0041 Open/Close |
| Wage and Hour Division |
2016/10/13 |
2017/01/06 |
UD-2017-0004 | After an employee whose records were requested by the ALG FOIA left the organization, the e-mail account was deleted (approximately six weeks after the employee left the agency) and ITS has no way to reconstitute these records. | Unfounded | UD-2017-0004 Open/Close |
State
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Citizen Services, Manila Embassy |
2019/09/11 |
2019/11/26 |
UD-2019-0051 | A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0051 Open/Close |
| State |
2015/03/03 |
2022/06/13 |
UD-2015-0005 | Alienation of federal email records created or received by Sec. Clinton (2009-2013) from the State's official recordkeeping system. Potential alienation of email records created or received by former Secretaries of State dating back to Sec. Albright. | Founded | UD-2015-0005 Open/Close |
| State |
2015/09/04 |
2021/08/09 |
UD-2015-0006 | Alienation of federal email records created or received by senior embassy staff including Amb. Caroline Kennedy, and overall management of records at Embassy Tokyo, Japan. | Founded | UD-2015-0006 Open/Close |
| State |
2016/07/18 |
2017/12/15 |
UD-2016-0018 | E-mail records of former State Department employee Bryan Pagliano during Secretary Clinton's tenure. | Founded | UD-2016-0018 Open/Close |
| State |
2016/08/08 |
2019/12/10 |
UD-2016-0022 | Possible emergency destruction of Central African Republic embassy records; Amb. Lewis Lukens' e-mails that he deleted; U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Michael Ratney's e-mails that he deleted; Alleged destruction of Sec. Clinton's schedules. | Unfounded | UD-2016-0022 Open/Close |
| State |
2020/05/19 |
2020/11/04 |
UD-2020-0035 | Members of the public are alleging that the OIG is not designating emails as records unless they receive explicit authorization to do so. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0035 Open/Close |
| State | 2024/09/10 | 2024/11/21 | UD-2024-0073 | A member of the public has alleged that "all of the records that existed when we filed our request in 2011 were either illegally destroyed while the request was pending, or withheld from disclosure." | Founded | UD-2024-0073 Open/Close |
Transportation
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Aviation Administration |
2018/06/13
|
2018/10/15
|
UD-2018-0017 | The FAA Academy trains and evaluates air traffic controllers in simulators that have an audio recording capability. This capability records ambient audio as well as audio directly from the headset of the air traffic control trainee as he speaks instructions to aircraft in the simulator. The FAA admitted that it does not have a retention schedule for such records. Instead, the FAA claimed they must delete the audio within 7 days due to “space limitations." | Unfounded | UD-2018-0017 Open/Close |
| Federal Aviation Administration |
2023/01/24
|
2023/02/24 |
UD-2023-0021 | According to a Reuters article, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated that a preliminary review found that contract personnel "unintentionally deleted files" disrupting a key computer system and prompting a nationwide ground stop that disrupted more than 11,000 flights. The FAA said the issue occurred while personnel were working "to correct synchronization between the live primary database and a backup database." | Founded | UD-2023-0021 Open/Close |
| Federal Railroad Administration |
2016/12/14 |
2017/04/06 |
UD-2017-0010 | Emails from the FRA Administrator and FRA Associate Administrator for Finance and Administration. | Founded | UD-2017-0010 Open/Close |
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
2018/12/09 |
2023/06/20 |
UD-2020-0018 | Auto safety records pertaining to rulemaking, promulgation, and implementation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS 208) for AIR BAGS. | Unfounded | UD-2020-0018 Open/Close |
Treasury
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Engraving and Printing |
2016/10/24 |
2017/03/06 |
UD-2017-0005 | Video Surveillance Files at the District of Columbia and Fort Worth facilities were automatically deleted by the security system because of a lack of space for recording. | Founded | UD-2017-0005 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Engraving Printing |
2017/08/24 |
2022/12/09 |
UD-2017-0031 | Preliminary product design records (for currency, etc.) were disposed of without an approved schedule. | Founded | UD-2017-0031 Open/Close |
| Bureau of Engraving Printing |
2021/01/14 |
2023/06/15 |
UD-2021-0009 | During the review of a pending schedule, it became apparent that the agency could not locate its pre-1980 records that were related to the draft schedule. | Unfounded | UD-2021-0009 Open/Close |
| Bureau of the Fiscal Service |
2024/03/25 |
2024/06/24 | UD-2024-0038 | During the scheduling and appraisal process, it was determined that the Bureau of Fiscal Service had been destroying source records from the Foreign Loan Program (circa 1919) and the Lend-Lease Program (circa World War II) after digitization. These records are not scheduled and the agency does not know the quality as to how the records have been digitized. | Unfounded | UD-2024-0038 Open/Close |
| Financial Crimes Enforcement Network |
2018/05/17 |
2018/06/26 |
UD-2018-0013 | Suspicious activity reports (SARs) were discovered absent from the database maintained by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). | Unfounded | UD-2018-0013 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service |
2018/02/09 |
2018/02/09 |
UD-2018-0006 | A single IRS tax document as part of the annual Collection Statute Expiration Date (CSED) “Pull to Save” project for Ogden List Year 10. The document DLN 29-141-235-117-51-0 could not be located upon request. | Founded | UD-2018-0006 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service |
2018/04/10 |
2021/06/08 |
UD-2018-0010 | Alienation of IRS Federal Advisory Committee Act email records. | Founded | UD-2018-0010 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service |
2019/05/23 |
2019/10/25 |
UD-2019-0024 | One box of IRS records was lost in shipment to San Bruno FRC while in the custody of the United Parcel Service. The box (Box #13 of 20) contained closed legal case files, specifically temporary 2015 closed TECHMIS files, a sub-classification of general litigation | Founded | UD-2019-0024 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service |
2019/04/05 |
2019/04/10 |
UD-2019-0019 | 82 boxes of closed Criminal Investigation case files were mistakenly picked up by the shred contractor and destroyed. | Founded | UD-2019-0019 Open/Close |
| Internal Revenue Service |
2020/01/14 |
2020/01/14 |
UD-2020-0020 | One box (box 2) of 10 boxes of closed Offers in Compromise (OIC) case files from an IRS Small Business/Self-Employed (Collections) Office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was lost during UPS transport to Ft. Worth FRC. | Founded | UD-2020-0020 Open/Close |
Veterans Affairs
| Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office of General Counsel |
2019/09/04 |
2020/12/04 |
UD-2019-0047 | Improper and accidental loss of military health, litigation/appeal, and contractor files containing PII. | Founded | UD-2019-0047 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2019/02/11 |
2024/05/15 |
UD-2019-0012 | Possible alienation of e-mail records resulting from the alleged use of personal e-mail accounts by former Secretary Dr. David Shulkin and others. | Unfounded | UD-2019-0012 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2019/11/20 |
2020/12/04 |
UD-2020-0016 | Loss of research study files for approximately 57 inactive research studies, some containing PII following flood damage to the facility housing the records. | Founded | UD-2020-0016 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2021/04/16 |
2024/04/19 |
UD-2021-0027 | Alteration and improper documentation of SF-50 records | Unfounded | UD-2021-0027 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2022/03/11 |
2022/10/17 |
UD-2022-0029 | A member of the public is alleging that the VA is improperly destroying permanent and vital records after imaging the material into the VBMS. | Unfounded | UD-2022-0029 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2022/09/27 |
2023/01/04 |
UD-2022-0042 | An employee alleges that team messages relating to an EEOC complaint were destroyed. According to the employee, the messages should have been retained as part of the patient's medical record. | Unfounded | UD-2022-0042 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2022/07/15 |
2022/09/14 |
UD-2022-0050 | Agency report of unauthorized disposition of VA records. Specifically five electronic records: three C3R Monitors documents and two Records Management standard operating procedure documents. | Founded | UD-2022-0050 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2022/09/27 |
2022/12/14 |
UD-2022-0066 | A member of the public alleged that video surveillance records were erroneously destroyed. | Founded | UD-2022-0066 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2023/06/05 |
2023/06/05 |
UD-2023-0042 | The Gainesville VA Medical Center has reported unrecoverable patient Image data identified during the migration of images from the legacy VistA Imaging Tier II long-term storage systems (Jukeboxes and Archive Appliances) to the current NetApps StorageGrid. | Founded | UD-2023-0042 Open/Close |
| Veterans Affairs |
2023/06/05 |
2023/07/26 |
UD-2023-0061 | A VA staff member has alleged that text messages (2014-present), email, Skype messages, and a list of alternative email addresses for any VA executive who is assigned more than one government email address were destroyed. | Unfounded | UD-2023-0061 Open/Close |
Independent Agencies
|
Agency | Case Open Date | Case Close Date | Case ID | Records | Status | Case Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative Office of US Courts |
2019/09/11 |
2019/11/26 |
UD-2019-0052 |
A member of the public is alleging that the agency is deleting emails without reading them. |
Unfounded | UD-2019-0052 Open/Close |
| Administrative Office of US Courts |
2021/10/26 |
2022/01/27 |
UD-2022-0005 | A 1993 West Virginia USDC civil case file was destroyed in 2011 without proper authorization. | Founded | UD-2022-0005 Open/Close |
| Administrative Office of US Courts | 2025/03/03 | UD-2025-0022 | A member of the public has alleged that the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee deleted records relating to a disciplinary matter. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0022 Open | |
| Administrative Office of US Courts |
2023/07/20 |
2023/07/24 |
UD-2023-0078 | 1 box of records went missing during a direct transfer from the US District Court District of Minnesota to our Chicago Archives | Unfounded | UD-2023-0078 Open/Close |
| Agency for International Development |
2015/09/29 |
2016/10/19 |
UD-2015-0007 | Electronic records of Haiti Mission were possibly lost during migration from a system of stand-alone computers to a cloud-based office productivity and storage solution. | Founded | UD-2015-0007 Open/Close |
| Agency for International Development |
2016/06/08 |
2022/05/04 |
UD-2016-0017 | OIG records including employee travel files, performance evaluations, audit reports, prior strategic plans, prior semiannual reports to Congress, prior versions (1998) of the Guidelines for Financial Audits Contracted by Foreign Recipients | Founded | UD-2016-0017 Open/Close |
| Agency for International Development | 2025/03/14 | UD-2025-0037 | USAID staff left a message for appraisal staff reporting allegations from other USAID staffers that there is shredding of documents going on in the Ronald Regan Building and that there are concerns for other USAID records being gathered for archiving that could be at risk for destruction. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0037 Open | |
| Agency for International Development | 2025/03/14 | UD-2025-0044 | American Oversight submitted a letter to NARA concerning the potential unlawful destruction or removal of USAID federal records as USAID.gov website was removed. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0044 Open | |
| Agency for International Development | 2025/03/14 | UD-2025-0047 | Allegation that officials at USAID had begun large-scale destruction of classified documents at the Washington, DC headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building. | Pending review/follow-up | UD-2025-0047 Open | |
| American Battle Monuments Commission |
2017/07/17 |
2021/09/10 |
UD-2017-0025 |
Erroneous disposal and removal of various ABMC records and uncaptured emails of ABMC commissioners. |
Founded | UD-2017-0025 Open/Close |
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