My "fatal career mistake" when I worked at the Justice Department was resurrecting e-mails after the hard-copy file of smoking-gun documents had been purged in the case of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh. I did this back on March 7, 2002, when I learned of a federal discovery order that had been deliberately concealed from me, and for which I had authored responsive documents. I found that the e-mails necessary to comply with the discovery order had been purged from the office file. I resurrected the missing e-mails from the bowels of the computer archives with the help of tech support, provided them to my boss, resigned, and took home a copy for safekeeping in case they "disappeared again."
So when the White House says that e-mails dealing with the U.S. Attorney massacre may have been lost, I say nothing is ever really "lost" when it comes to e-mail. I learned the hard way because I was punished unmercifully (criminal investigation, fired from my new job at the government's behest, referred to the state bars in which I'm licensed, and put on the "no-fly" list) for recovering the information that, not coincidentally, helped to tank the Lindh case.
My "fatal career mistake" when I worked at the Justice Department was resurrecting e-mails after the hard-copy file of smoking-gun documents had been purged in the case of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh. (Articles verifying this can be found at http://www.patriotictruthteller.net and http://www.cradl.info)
Although the e-mails had been deleted as a matter of course (because I knew there were hard copies in the file I kept), and I had emptied my virtual trash a number of times, someone from technical support was able to help me recover the "missing" e-mails from the computer archives. So when the White House says that e-mails dealing with the U.S. Attorney massacre may have been lost, I say nothing is ever really "lost" when it comes to e-mail--a lesson for which I paid dearly, so let me share my hard-learned wisdom . . .
It may take a few extra ballet steps to recover the missing e-mails, but even a technologically-challenged computerphobe like myself can do it with a little help.
Moreover, as discovered from the shenanigans in the Lindh case, copies of "missing" e-mails also exist on the computers, Blackberries, and cell phones of others to whom you sent them.
Finally, as the Justice Department folks at the Computer Crime and Information Section know all too well, you can subpoena the servers and ISP providers to recover digital messages--both the content and the origins.
I did this back on March 7, 2002 when I learned of a federal discovery order that had been deliberately concealed from me, and found that the responsive e-mails had been purged from the office file. I resurrected the missing e-mails from the bowels of the computer archives, provided them to my boss, resigned, and took home a copy for safekeeping in case they "disappeared again."
If Republicans thought they could launder dirty e-mail by routing it through private RNC accounts intended for political activities (in the case of the U.S. Attorney massacre, a distinction without a difference), they were dead wrong, especially if they did so to avoid detection, which would violate the Presidential Records Act and constitute obstruction of justice.
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