I believe the Kissinger telephone records provide a clear case where
the creator of the records viewed their status differently than
archivsts or records managers probably would.  Take a look at NARA's
excellent finding aid at
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/telcon-finding%20aid.pdf
  NARA notes correctly that a District and appellate court ruled that
the Kissinger telcons were "government records" prepared "on government
time by government employees."  Nevertheless, as NARA notes in the
Finding Aid, just before leaving government service in 1977, Dr.
Kissinger removed these records from the U.S. Department of State and
placed them in a vault on David Rockefeller's estate.

Moreover, the tapes from which the transcripts derived reportedly were
destroyed right after they were transcribed.  The secretaries'
shorthand notes also were destroyed.  (BTW, you'll see obvious errors
in some of the transcripts produced by Kissinger's staff, such as
"court marshall" for "cour martial," etc.)  If the derivative
transcripts are government records, as the courts later affirmed, then
I suspect most records managers would say the original tapes also were.
   They recorded calls between government officials who were discussing
governmental matters.  (I'm referring simply to their status, not
retention period or when they should have been made public.)  Given the
destruction and removal of materials while Dr. Kissinger was in office,
and the ultimate return of copies of the existing transcripts to NARA,
this is a clear case where he as creator and archivists would have very
different views of records status and "enduring value."

GAO was not involved in this case.  But it did issue a report,
"GGD-91-117 -- Federal Records: Document Removal by Agency Heads Needs
Independent Oversight," on related issues in 1991.  See
http://archive.gao.gov/t2pbat7/144859.pdf .  This is the report where
GAO noted:

"Current internal controls do not adequately ensure that government
records and information are properly protected because no independent
review of documents is made before they are removed. Reviews, if made
at aI1, are done by subordinates who may not be able to effectively
challenge
the decisions of departing agency heads. Having complete records
is critical to protecting government interests. We believe that NARA
should oversee agency heads? plans to remove documents and determine
whether their relinquishment and removal are consistent with federal
laws and regulations."

Maarja

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