Are lost IRS e-mails “unbelievable”? Not really

Are lost IRS e-mails “unbelievable”? Not really | Ars Technica

"During a hearing held yesterday by the House Oversight Committee, Committee Chairman Darrel Issa said that it was ‘unbelievable’ that the IRS had lost the e-mails of former IRS official Lois Lerner. While Congressman Issa is not generally ignorant on tech issues, he’s clearly not familiar with just how believable such a screw-up is."

"The IRS is not the only federal agency to lose e-mails over the past few years. In fact, despite efforts at many agencies to standardize and improve e-mail by moving to services like Google Apps for Government and Microsoft Office 365 Government, many agencies still run their e-mail like it’s 1999. It’s not just a technology issue—it’s an IT policy issue, a staffing issue, and a cultural issue within government, one that the federal government shares with many private corporations."

"These are problems agencies across the federal government are facing—lack of internal IT expertise, dependence on contractors, reduced money to pay for contractors due to the ongoing budget wars, and the mass departure of baby boomer employees. Combine that with “best practices” that have long passed their shelf life, and you have a recipe for more than just a few missing e-mails; you have a blueprint for total chaos, of which missing e-mails are only a single symptom."