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The federal government is now facing one of the most profound transparency crises in its history—one largely hidden from public view. The archivist of the United States, once considered a quiet and ceremonial role, has become central to whether the nation can function honestly, legally, and accountably in the digital age.
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For more than two decades, the government has failed to manage its electronic records as required by law. Emails, files, messages, cloud data, and classified information have accumulated in systems never equipped to track or preserve them properly. The failure began in the late 1990s when federal agencies adopted electronic records repositories that looked good on paper but never actually worked. Billions of taxpayer dollars were spent, yet not one agency successfully deployed a compliant system.
As a result, transparency has crumbled. Key investigations have been clouded by missing or disorganized information. The Pentagon has struggled to account for massive sums of taxpayer money. Sensitive data breaches have exposed tens of millions of classified records. Oversight of federal health agencies and other departments has been weakened by the inability to trace decisions and actions within lawful recordkeeping systems.
A turning point came in 2014 when the legal definition of a federal record expanded to include all recorded information. Overnight, every electronic item created by any agency—from emails to shared drives to text messages—became subject to federal records law. Since the federal government lacks a centralized IT department, responsibility for overseeing this enormous digital universe fell to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
That means the archivist now influences federal IT acquisitions, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity decisions, and the preservation of every record that allows the public to understand how its government acts. It is a position with enormous power—yet the seat is currently empty after the previous archivist’s removal.
The next archivist must bring technological expertise, nonpartisan credibility, and the courage to repair a system that has never truly functioned. Without trustworthy records, transparency collapses. Without transparency, accountability disappears. And without accountability, government loses the trust of its people.
This moment requires leadership that understands both the technical challenges and the moral weight of stewarding the nation’s recorded history. The integrity of federal information—and the public’s right to know—hang in the balance.
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(Excerpt from the Federalist. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
