National Archives Missing a Terabyte of Sensitive Information

Just a day after the White House won a court victory over its massive loss of emails during the Bush Administration, the AP is reporting that The National Archive has lost a hard drive containing huge amounts of sensitive data dating back to the Clinton years.

The drive contained a terabyte of personally identifying data about White House staff and guests, according to a statement from the Archives.  No one knows if the hard drive was stolen or simply misplaced, but the FBI is currently looking into the matter.
The episode emphasizes the importance of implementing and following proper data management procedures.  Apparently the drive was left on a shelf for a period of months while an employee worked on another project.  That doesn't sound like best practices to me.

But since this is the government we're talking about, the National Archives might get a pass.  The DC Circuit ruled yesterday that the Office of Administration for the White House didn't have to release information concerning the loss of millions of White House emails since the OA was only an administrative body.

Who wants to bet that the National Archives soon changes its name to the National (Administrative) Archives?

See Also:
Hard Drive Missing From US National Archives (CIO.com)