U.S. history, gone missing.

PositionGOVERNMENT RECORDS

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Since May, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has offered a $50,000 reward for information about a missing hard drive containing sensitive information related to the Clinton administration. The hard drive has not been found, and subsequent investigations have revealed that other significant items are missing from the NARA collection as well.

The Associated Press (AP) has reported that NARA is missing Civil War telegrams from President Abraham Lincoln, presidential portraits of Franklin D. Roosevelt, presidential pardons, target maps for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and more.

Some items have been stolen by researchers and Archives' employees, but still others have simply vanished over the years from the Archives' 44 facilities in 20 states and the capital, including 13 presidential libraries.

For example, in one well-publicized breach, a National Archives intern at the Philadelphia facility was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2007 for stealing 160 Civil War documents and selling them on eBay. In 2005, a researcher received two years in prison and a $10,000 fine for stealing more than 100 Civil War-era documents from the Archives. According to the AP, fewer than half were recovered.

Former President Clinton's national security advisor, Sandy Berger, was also caught taking documents from the Archives in 2003 while preparing to give testimony to the 9/11 Commission. He was sentenced to two years probation and 100 community service hours, along with a $50,000 fine.

The missing external hard drive, which is thought to contain at least 1 terabyte of information, may include classified information about the Clinton administration. Media reports said the drive was...

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