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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext"> SAA Headquarters via Society of American Archivists <Mail@ConnectedCommunity.org>
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, October 23, 2025 5:57 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Carleton, Janet (she/her) <carleton@ohio.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [SAA announcements] : SAA Statement on Privacy and Government Records<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:.75pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:1.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The people of the United States entrust government archives and records repositories with safeguarding countless numbers of records.
These records... -posted to the "Announcements" community<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><a href="https://connect.archivists.org/network/members/profile?UserKey=7c405220-2e02-4c09-8ca5-34a8a2c1e5ec"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="75" height="75" style="width:.7812in;height:.7812in" id="_x0000_i1028" src="https://d132x6oi8ychic.cloudfront.net/higherlogic/directory/imagedisplay/7b65ea50-51f4-4b8b-8075-356c4e23c488/ed1fcb44-f589-47d5-b0bf-a4ae60ff0988/200/200/636615466171530000" alt="SAA Headquarters"></span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Oct 23, 2025 4:57 PM
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><a href="https://connect.archivists.org/network/members/profile?UserKey=7c405220-2e02-4c09-8ca5-34a8a2c1e5ec">SAA Headquarters</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The people of the United States entrust government archives and records repositories with safeguarding countless numbers of records. These records include large quantities of private information related to millions
of people. Ensuring the sanctity and privacy of personal information is a paramount responsibility for government archives, and it is critical in maintaining the reputation of archives and records centers as trustworthy stewards of the public’s information.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Recent reports of improper releases of private information from government agencies managing records are deeply concerning. Last week,
<a href="https://www.mikiesherrill.com/nara-letter-9.25.pdf" title="https://www.mikiesherrill.com/nara-letter-9.25.pdf">
Mikie Sherrill</a> shared information related to the release of a minimally redacted copy of her military records by the National Personnel Records Center, an operational unit of the National Archives and Records Administration. Earlier this year, when the
White House released <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/03/19/personal-information-jfk-files-social-security-numbers/" title="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/03/19/personal-information-jfk-files-social-security-numbers/">
unredacted records</a> related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr., those who released the information inadvertently made personal information—including Social Security numbers of living individuals—available to the public. There is no excuse for the
occurrence of such incidents, inadvertent or otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Policy makers have created a robust infrastructure to balance the competing interests of privacy and access to information. United States federal agencies have multiple layers of statutory and regulatory checks
to ensure that privacy is protected at the same time that public records requests are properly fulfilled. These improper releases did not occur because our systems are inadequate. It is imperative that archives and records centers are appropriately staffed
with trained professionals and robustly funded to guarantee adherence to established protocols that prevent the improper release of private information.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"> </span><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><a href="https://www2.archivists.org/statements/issue-brief-confidentiality-of-private-information-held-in-records-of-the-federal-governm" title="https://www2.archivists.org/statements/issue-brief-confidentiality-of-private-information-held-in-records-of-the-federal-governm">SAA
Position Statement on Private Information in Government Records (2017)</a></span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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SAA Headquarters<br>
Society of American Archivists<br>
Chicago IL<br>
<a href="mailto:saahq@archivists.org">saahq@archivists.org</a><br>
------------------------------<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><img border="0" width="2" height="1" style="width:.0208in;height:.0104in" id="_x0000_i1027" src="https://oedginnrrl.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/v1/readstatus?MailingID=588998916&Email=carleton%40ohio.edu"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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