Recent events in the US have once again highlighted the importance of effective records management in government. The White House is the focus of this scandal, its reputation seemingly tarnished by tit-for-tat tactics that exposed an American spy and resulted in a full-scale FBI investigation of presidential staff.
As a result of an American diplomat`s research efforts disproving White House allegations concerning attempts to acquire uranium ore for use in Iraq before the war, someone exposed the politician`s wife as a CIA agent, effectively ending her career. More than simply career loss, the revelations could easily have resulted in her imprisonment or death had she been in a foreign country.
According to US law, the exposure was in violation of law and the person or people responsible could face up to 10 years in jail. Of course, everyone denies any involvement but the common perception is that the White House, or someone working there, exposed her in retaliation for her husband`s embarrassing revelations.
"Now the White House is the subject of an FBI investigation as the G-men attempt to identify the people responsible," says Paul Mullon, marketing director of document and records management specialist Metrofile. "Due to the lack of decent records management at the White House, this task is proving difficult, time-consuming and very disruptive."
In its efforts to track down the culprit, the FBI needs to examine all the records and documents the White House generated in the period under review going back to June. There is no integrated process of records management in place in the White House - hard as it may be to believe. The investigators therefore are forced to request and search for each document, hoping these will be supplied by cooperative administration officials.
"The manpower required by the FBI is enormous and must be costing a fortune," notes Mullon. "Then one needs to calculate the productivity implications as White House staff waste time searching for records instead of fulfilling their day-to-day duties.
"If the president of Zimbabwe had no effective records management system in place, nobody would raise an eyebrow, but for the White House to have no integrated management processes is incredible. The fact that this is the second time in as many administrations that its record-keeping is under scrutiny simply makes the whole process even more unbelievable."
In the previous administration, under President Bill Clinton, authorities tried to uncover the truth following his "dangerous liaison" with intern Monica Lewinsky. The investigation proved indecisive partly because of the difficulty experienced in finding records to prove the president`s guilt. An effective records management policy would ensure that all records, be they letters, e-mails, or documents, and even phone calls and pretzel bills were identified and stored or managed electronically before they could be made to disappear, making the investigators` task easier by leaving a proper trail for them to follow.
Mullon adds: "How can lawmakers legislate on corporate governance and responsibility when they seem to have no intention of leading by example and sorting out their own houses?"
Implementing a proper records management system can be time- and labour-intensive. Once implemented, however, the system becomes a part of corporate (or government) life and serves to speed processes and improve productivity across the board. Apart from that, records management is also a legal requirement, whether done automatically or manually.
The lack of an effective records management solution in companies today must be ascribed to negligence on the part of directors - an offence which can land them in court - and the same applies to government, except the equivalent of corporate directors in government don`t seem to be under the same threat of law. The only other interpretation for failing to manage their records effectively is that leaders find it necessary to hide information to protect themselves from being discovered - which has its own set of implications.
Share
Editorial contacts