I don't think that there is anything intrinsically wrong with the quote
and will argue that that both Steven and Chris are over-analyzing it.

"Information which is not communicated is valueless."

Like Steve, I too have a background in military intelligence.  But my
training was to distribute information to those with a need to know so
that they could act on it.  Why else would we spend treasure and
sometime lives gathering intelligence?

Granted, not everyone had a need to know everything and the risk of a
secret being compromised increases exponentially as additional persons
are informed.  But, that said, acting on information (and information)
makes the difference between success and failure.  Look at General
Patton, he was successful because he acted on intelligence produced by
Ultra.  Clark didn't.

As for Chris' claim, the purpose of an Archives is to preserve and to
make available the permanent records of an organization.   So the
Clintonian answer is "it depends upon what the definition of
'communicate' is."  I maintain that preparing and making available
finding guides to assist researchers find information in the Archives is
the same as communicating it.  And the archivists who work for me are
highly proactive.

"Information which cannot be found is worthless."

Chris has a cute answer (then why are you looking for it).  But think
back to your high school physics:  information you cannot find is like
potential energy--if you can get to it is has value, but if it remains
un-accessible you are only wasting your time and kinetic energy.

"The value of Information is directly  related to its accessibility."
 
OK, maybe this one is a bit overstated because a lot of easily
accessible information (or misinformation) has no value and some hard to
find information has such great value that researchers will go to a lot
of effort for.  But remember Mooer's Law:  "An information retrieval
system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and
troublesome for a customer to have information than for him to not have
it."  (I'll grant that this can be read two ways, but it is commonly
understood that he actually meant "obtain" rather than "have.")

When we make records with "Potential Value" (see above) easily
available, it increases its use, hence value.  I have one series of
records that was used no more than 10 times a month when in the hands of
the creating department but is now being used about 500 times a month
because my staff organized it so that we can find things.

But I do agree with Chris on one thing, it is something that we can (and
should) delve into.  

Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM
Records Management Officer
Harris County, TX

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