IRS dog ate my homework excuse looking more tenuous as IT group posits that they were destroyed

IT Trade Association Questions Whether Lerner's Emails Were Destroyed

Jim Swift

June 26, 2014 

Were Lois Lerner’s allegedly lost emails actually destroyed? An Ohio-based trade association, the International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers (IAITAM), isn’t so sure, and they don’t find IRS commissioner Koskinen’s explanation of their loss very plausible. 

IAITAM administers internationally accepted certifications for information technology professionals. According to the group’s standards, if Lerner’s supposedly malfunctioning hardware was properly destroyed, there would be records of it. 

Dr. Barbara Rembiesa, president of IAITAM, questions whether there is documentation of the destruction of the files. Who performed the work, says Rembiesa, is important because not all IT professionals are IAITAM certified. 

 “The notion that these emails just magically vanished makes no sense whatsoever.  That is not how IT asset management at major businesses and government institutions works in this country.  When the hard drive in question was destroyed, the IRS should have called in an accredited IT Asset Destruction (ITAD) professional or firm to complete that process, which requires extensive documentation, official signoffs, approvals, and signatures of completion.  If this was done, there would be records.  If this was not done, this is the smoking gun that proves the drive or drives were destroyed improperly – or not at all.”

In hearings this week before the House of Representatives, Koskinen testified that the IRS tried to reconstruct the information from the hard drives but didn’t outline the details of their destruction.

Many of the missing Lerner emails exist on the hard drives of other IRS employees with whom she corresponded, but the IRS has not outlined a plan to find those to comply with subpoenas from the House of Representatives.