Patterico's Pontifications

6/23/2014

Report: “IRS Cancelled Contract with Email-Storage Firm Weeks After Lerner’s Computer Crash”

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:38 am



Timing is everything:

Lois Lerner’s computer allegedly crashed in June 2011, just ten days after House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Dave Camp first wrote a letter asking if the IRS was engaging in targeting of nonprofit groups. Two months later, Sonasoft’s contract ended and the IRS gave its email-archiving contractor the boot.

The contract, which came to light through the efforts of our pal Morgen Richmond, had been renewed every year since 2005. But when investigators came sniffing, all of a sudden backups seemed less important. Funny, that.

23 Responses to “Report: “IRS Cancelled Contract with Email-Storage Firm Weeks After Lerner’s Computer Crash””

  1. After.

    Note: after.

    In other words,give up the emails.

    Paul ABarge (6b1c44)

  2. That could mean maybe that the contractor got rid of the back-up tapes it had maintained.

    Maybe the NSA has them, for now, as they are less than five years old. but it would require an Act of Congress, to get anyone permission to look at them.

    Sammy Finkelman (107dde)

  3. unexpectedly.

    they aren’t even trying anymore: it’s just flat out taunting on the part of this regime.

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  4. Don’t miss this information about the NOAA manipulating US ground data after 2000.

    https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/noaanasa-dramatically-altered-us-temperatures-after-the-year-2000/

    Handy little .Gif there showing the manipulation.

    DejectedHead (a094a6)

  5. There are several dishonest statements in the IRS letter of June 13, 2014:

    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/6_13_14_irs_letter.pdf

    1. On page 7 of the Description of IRS Email Collection and Production

    …the IRS…

    o Confirmed that back-up tapes from 2011 no longer exist because they have been recycled (which is not uncommon for large organizations in both the private and public sectors);

    But Megan McArdle writes, in such cases it is common in large (private) organizations to take one tape a week, or one tape a month, out of the rotation – and that was 10 to 15 years ago.

    http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-06-17/missing-e-mail-is-the-least-of-the-irs-s-problems

    The IRS’s policies on e-mail storage were primitive even by the standards of 15 years ago, when I was working as a technology consultant. At that time, it was bog [sic] standard policy at every office I worked at, including small businesses, to regularly pull a set of backup tapes out of rotation — once a week at financial firms, once a month at smaller businesses with less regulatory overhead, once every three months for the truly cash-strapped — and stash it in a vault in case you needed to recover something later.

    Even small businesses, or what she calls small businesses, pulled a tape out of the rotation at least once every three months.

    Sammy Finkelman (107dde)

  6. “Well, the hard drive crashed, and was then wiped multiple ways and thoroughly destroyed. At the same time, our archive service was cancelled, our back-ups were wiped, and all copies of the emails were accidentally destroyed.”

    “Either you’re lying or you need to contact the SCP Foundation because that’s some anomalous stuff right there.”

    JWB (c1c08f)

  7. More: The August 29, 2013 letetr to Senator Hatch says in Footnote 2:

    …In addition, you will note that for some of these individuals, there is little information prior to 2012. We have been informed that in a broad migration of computer systems from Windows XP to Windows 7, Outlook calendars from before 2012 were lost. We are gathering and will produce responsive materials from any copies of that material we are able to locate.

    The calendars were provided for in monthly view format, and for some of these individuals, on some days, certain information is not visible. They said they would provide fuller vews on their request and provide any information as they proceed with their review of these individuals electronic records.

    Sammy Finkelman (5b302e)

  8. 6. They actually don’t explain what was wrong with the hard disk.

    There is an attempt, in the document included with the June 13 letter, to say that the Information technology division attempted

    1) at the time of the crash,

    2) at Lois Lerner’s request

    …to recover information stored on her hard drive.

    But the documentary included with it doesn’t support that.

    To point 1: it was not at the time of the crash, but more than one full month later, that the IT division attempted to recover the data. All Democrats are making the same “mistake.”

    And to point 2: it was not at Lois Lerner’s request.

    Carl T. Froelich offered to it on his own, and the Subject Matter of the e-mail which Lois Lerner sent was:

    Be Careful What You Ask For

    What I suspect is that maybe Lois Lerner was moaning and groaning about her crashed hard disk.

    Even if she’d CAUSED the crash, she couldn’t refuse such an offer!

    Sammy Finkelman (5b302e)

  9. 9. This is dated March 5, 2014.

    What he’s talking about is, first, that it wasn’t just organizations who could not get a determination that they were tax exempt who were targeted. Individuals were targeted by the IRS for political audits and so on, and he was one of them. (although the principal by which they were selected isn’t clear to me.)

    The writer is Wayne Allyn Root, who writes for the Blaze, and is a former classmate of Obama at Columbia University. (not sure if this means he ever was in the same classroom, or even saw him there.)

    The smoking gun is not that some of these audits don’t have good explanations for why they took place if politics was not a key factor.

    He says he was pursued starting in January, 2011.He hired one of the nations’s top tax law firms, and won a complete victory in tax court. Then five days later, a new tax audit starts. He says this just doesn’t happen. That’s still not the smoking gun.

    This went on for awhile and he was winning, and then….

    ….the IRS auditor handling his case in California receives a call from one of the most important IRS officials in the country telling him to wrap up his case immediately. (which I think means stop the audit)

    This was two weeks before the scandal broke in the national news. It sounds like somebody decided they put an end to this case, because they knew it was politically motivated.

    And that’s not yet the smoking gun.

    The smoking gun is that Judicial Watch, which got into the case, requested all files, records, correspondence, phone calls, etc relating to his case on Aug. 7, 2013, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).

    By law the IRS had 30 days to comply. That was more than six months ago as of that writing.

    Over half a year of silence.

    That’s what he means by the smoking gun. t

    That tells you that there’s something there.

    Sammy Finkelman (5b302e)

  10. Wayne Allyn Root mentioned also as probable victims of political audits and the like:

    1) Dr. Benjamin Carson.

    2 Former GOP Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell.

    3) A stage 4 terminal cancer victim who had appeared on Fox News.

    4) Conservative filmmakers like Jerry Mullen (Dinesh D’Souza’s partner) and Joel Gilbert.

    5) Billy Graham – that Billy Graham?

    6) Catherine Engelbrecht – targeted over 15 times by the IRS and other government agencies after founding her Tea Party.

    7) Numerous prominent GOP donors.

    Sammy Finkelman (5b302e)

  11. it’s just flat out taunting on the part of this regime.

    Knowing the Republicans, they probably don’t realize such a thing even happened.

    Blacque Jacques Shellacque (e817d3)

  12. I don’t see the taunting, actually.

    Sammy Finkelman (9257c5)

  13. “they aren’t even trying anymore: it’s just flat out taunting on the part of this regime.”
    redc1c4 (abd49e) — 6/23/2014 @ 7:58 am

    Why should they try? At this point, what difference does it make. No one will hold their feet to the fire. Their “side” is actively cheering the FU. The reps of the the rest aren’t inclined to make serious waves, just a little light hand waving and moveon.org.

    SarahW (267b14)

  14. Sammy @15, you also didn’t see the obvious Benghazi lies. That’s not much of a recommendation.

    Steve57 (334088)

  15. Theer are lies about Benghazi – but not that Obama made up the video thing.

    You can’t accuse people of the wrong lies.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  16. So, let’s see if I remember correctly:
    -IRS gave “extra scrutiny” to ~10x as many conservative orgs as liberal…
    -including book-length questionnaires that asked questions they were prohibited from asking…
    -and delayed even refusal for several years.
    -After years of this, one organization complained to Issa, who started an investigation;
    -shortly after which (in the same year) at least six high-ranking IRS officials who have been subjects of investigation had hard-drive crashes;
    -the first of these crashes was 10 days after the beginning of the investigation; the official in question apparently did nothing about it until recovery was offered a month later;
    -at which point said official replies w/ email titled “Be Careful What You Wish For” (?!), accepting the offer.
    -When recovery turned out to be impossible, said official replied that it was disappointing because she had lost “personal files;” no reference was made to any investigation or communications.
    -At this point, ~1 1/2 months after the investigation commenced (my guesstimate), the IRS proceeded to destroy the hard drives in question, “following standard procedures”;
    -within a month after which the IRS did not renew an annual email backup contract, which they had renewed annually for 5 years.
    -The IRS likewise destroyed the hard drives in all the subsequent crashes.
    -Neither Congress nor the public were notified of any of the crashes or of the decision to cancel the backup for about 3 years.

    Ibidem (2d6370)

  17. You can’t accuse people of the wrong lies.

    Sammy @18, I only accuse people of the right lies.

    This is something you’re going o have to learn about me.

    Steve57 (334088)

  18. Ibidem (2d6370) — 6/23/2014 @ 4:30 pm

    -the first of these crashes was 10 days after the beginning of the investigation;

    After a letter from House Ways and Means Commiittee Chairman Dave Camp, not from Darrell Issa.

    the official in question apparently did nothing about it until recovery was offered a month later;

    The IRS and some Democrats seem to be claiming that she did, but I don’t see any evidence of taht.

    One month later, is not “at that time” like the IRS writes.

    If there was some prior communication, it’s not included.

    -at which point said official replies w/ email titled “Be Careful What You Wish For” (?!), accepting the offer.

    Close: “Careful What You Ask For”

    She had also met personally with the computer technology guy earlier that morning, but took till late afternoon to decide. (5:21 pm but she writes:

    It was nice to meet you this morning…I’m taking advantage of your offer to try and recapture my lost personal files.

    The next day she writes:

    …don’t they send them off to the hard drive cemetery?

    No such luck for Lois Lerner. Diane Letourneau – the person who if she can’t fix it nobody can – writes back:

    I checked with the technician and he still has your drive. He wanted to exhaust all avenues to recover the data before sending it to the “hard drive cemetery.” Unfortunately, after receiving assistance from several highly skilled technicians including HP experts, he still cannot recover the data.

    But she tells her there is still one possibility, and she tells her a week and a half later (Monday August 1) that she sent it to the CIs forensic lab, but the CI tech was out unexpectedly and won’t be back till August 3.

    They were working on this thing. Somebody’s got to remember this very well.

    Nobody from the IRS has explained what that’s supposed to mean.

    -When recovery turned out to be impossible, said official replied that it was disappointing because she had lost “personal files;” no reference was made to any investigation or communications.
    -At this point, ~1 1/2 months after the investigation commenced (my guesstimate), the IRS proceeded to destroy the hard drives in question, “following standard procedures”;
    -within a month after which the IRS did not renew an annual email backup contract, which they had renewed annually for 5 years.
    -The IRS likewise destroyed the hard drives in all the subsequent crashes.
    -Neither Congress nor the public were notified of any of the crashes or of the decision to cancel the backup for about 3 years.

    Sammy Finkelman (9257c5)

  19. Nobody from the IRS has explained what that’s supposed to mean. (Careful what You Ask For)

    -When recovery turned out to be impossible, said official replied that it was disappointing because she had lost “personal files;” no reference was made to any investigation or communications.
    -At this point, ~1 1/2 months after the investigation commenced (my guesstimate), the IRS proceeded to destroy the hard drives in question, “following standard procedures”;
    -within a month after which the IRS did not renew an annual email backup contract, which they had renewed annually for 5 years.
    -The IRS likewise destroyed the hard drives in all the subsequent crashes.
    -Neither Congress nor the public were notified of any of the crashes or of the decision to cancel the backup for about 3 years.

    They didn’t comply with some subpoenas, then they tried to claim to another that their work was done, finally they have to admit that there’s less e-mail than you might have expected.

    Sammy Finkelman (9257c5)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0707 secs.