James Powers, former director of the Pennsylvania office of homeland security, destroyed the original intelligence reports he received from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response.
James Powers, former director of the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security, destroyed the original intelligence reports he received from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response.
That may have violated multiple provisions of the state’s record retention policy.
“I destroyed the original copies because, to me, they were working documents,” Powers wrote in an internal e-mail more than a week after receiving a request for the records.
According to the state’s Employee Records Management Manual, “Records that are the subject of a current Right-to-Know Law request must be retained by the agency, even if their records retention and disposition schedule indicates otherwise. These records may NOT be destroyed during the duration of the active request, the appeal time related to the request, and any subsequent appeal related to the request.”
Homeland Security is part of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). Internal emails from other PEMA staffers indicate that the raw reports existed one day after Davis filed his request, but none were released.
Eight days later, Powers sent his email saying the reports had been shredded.
In his email, Powers makes a point of asking if another staffer had saved any copies — because they could become public.
Powers writes: “We believe there may eventually arise a (Right-to-Know) request for the raw bulletins.”
Link:
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/11/former_director_of_pennsylvani.html