The House Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives held a hearing yesterday to address the Electronic Communications Preservation Act (H.R. 5811), sponsored by Chairman of the Committee Henry Waxman (D-CA-30), Chairman of the Subcommittee Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO-1), and Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH-2). The bill directs the Archivist of the United States to establish standards for the capture, management, retrieval, and preservation of White House e-mails and other electronic communications. The Committee’s Press Release, summary of the bill, and full text of the bill is available here.  Transcripts from the hearing are posted here.

Under the Federal Records Act, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is responsible for assisting Federal agencies in maintaining adequate and proper documentation of federal records.  Given the increased use of electronic communications, federal agencies are potentially creating (and discarding) messages that have the status of federal records.  According to a new report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), when GAO reviewed the e-mail management practices of four senior agencies officials they found that, although the agencies’ e-mail records management policies addressed the regulatory requirements, these requirements were not always met for the senior officials.

From BBC News in Guatemala City:

Military archives spanning nearly four decades of civil war in Guatemala will be opened to the public, the country's President Alvaro Colom has announced.  Some 250,000 civilians were killed or disappeared in the 36-year conflict, which was ended in 1996 by a UN-sponsored peace agreement.   Mr Colom made Monday's announcement from the balcony of the National Palace overlooking Guatemala's Central Square. Demonstrators had gathered from all over the country to hear the news.

For more information on Guatemala, see:

• National Public Radio: Guatemala: Unearthing the Future
  
• The Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) was established on June 23, 1994, as part of peace agreements between the Guatemalan government and the National Guatemalan Revolutionary Unit (URNG), to investigate human rights violations in the 36-year armed conflict in this country.  The commission's final report, entitled Memory of Silence, is available in both Spanish and English.
• The National Security Archives: Guatemalan Police Archives
• Sterling Memorial Library's Microform Collections: Guatemala
• WorldLII: Republic of Guatemala
• CIA World Factbook: Guatemala
  
• News sources:
  • Prensa Libre
  • Siglo Veintiuno/Siglo News