There is absolutely no reason for anyone to get his (or her, as the case may be) panties in a wad over this matter.
DonDiego is pleased to be able to assure every citizen who may be concerned about this matter that everything will be OK.
Section 3 the IRS Organization Manual addresses standards for using e-mail.
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1.10.3.2.3 (07-08-2011)
Emails as Possible Federal Records
All federal employees and federal contractors are required by law to preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency. Records must be properly stored and preserved, available for retrieval and subject to appropriate approved disposition schedules.
The Federal Records Act applies to email records just as it does to records you create using other media. Emails are records when they are:
Created or received in the transaction of agency business
Appropriate for preservation as evidence of the government’s function and activities, or
Valuable because of the information they contain
If you create or receive email messages during the course of your daily work, you are responsible for ensuring that you manage them properly. The Treasury Department’s current email policy requires emails and attachments that meet the definition of a federal record be added to the organization’s files by printing them (including the essential transmission data) and filing them with related paper records. If transmission and receipt data are not printed by the email system, annotate the paper copy. More information on IRS records management requirements is available at https://erc.web.irs.gov/Displayanswers/Question.asp?FolderID=4&CategoryID=5 or see the Records Management Handbook, IRM 1.15.1 https://publish.no.irs.gov/IRM/P01/PDF/31421A03.PDF).
An email determined to be a federal record may eventually be considered as having historical value by the National Archivist prior to disposal. Therefore, ensure that all your communications are professional in tone.
Please note that maintaining a copy of an email or its attachments within the IRS email MS Outlook application does not meet the requirements of maintaining an official record. Therefore, print and file email and its attachments if they are either permanent records or if they relate to a specific case.
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[boldface added - DD]
So DonDiego is certain that Mrs. Lerner created a printed copy of her e-mails in accordance with the Treasury Department Rules and that she will produce them when Congress requests her to do so.
DonDiego is confident that the printed record will exonerate Mrs. Lerner of any ill-intent or misbehavior regarding targeting of 501(c) tax exemption applications for political purposes. And in the unlikely event that poor old DonDiego's confidence is misplaced, . . . DonDiego is certain that Attorney General Eric Holder will begin an immediate investigation to uncover the truth in accordance with the wishes of the President of the United States Barack Obama. DonDiego is certain that no untoward behavior will be uncovered in such an investigation.
