NARA develops e-mail retention schedule.

• Position: E-MAIL - National Archives and Records Administration

With the 2016 year-end deadline for managing all records electronically on the horizon, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is preparing new rules and guidelines to help U.S. federal agencies meet the requirements of the 2011 presidential directive on management of government records.

NARA is putting the finishing touches on a retention schedule for retaining e-mail as part of implementing its Capstone program. The schedule is to designate as "permanent" the records of certain senior officials--such as all heads of department, deputies to senior officials, staff assistants, and chief executive officers--for transfer to the National Archives after declassification or 15 years, whichever is longer.

Federal agencies are not required to adopt Capstone, but they do have to meet the deadline set by the presidential directive, and their plans must be approved by NARA.

"Capstone dispenses with content analysis," said NARA General Counsel Gary Stern during a forum with agencies and other stakeholders in May. "It's a crude, simplistic approach. It may not be great, but it's better than the existing approach."

In a recent FCW article, Paul Wester, chief records officer for the U.S. government, said, "Our archivists who deal with the...