Author Topic: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever  (Read 1432 times)

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Offline truth_seeker

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Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« on: June 19, 2014, 05:04:35 am »
Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/irs-lois-lerner-emails-108044.html

By RACHAEL BADE | 6/18/14 9:59 PM EDT  Updated: 6/18/14 11:34 PM EDT

Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive has been recycled, making it likely the lost emails of the lightening rod in the tea party targeting controversy will never be found, according to multiple sources.

“We’ve been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away,” Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said in a brief hallway interview.
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Two additional sources told POLITICO the same late Wednesday, citing IRS officials.

It may just be standard government procedure, but the revelation is significant because some lawmakers and observers thought there was a way that tech experts could revive Lerner’s emails after they were washed away in a computer crash in the summer of 2011. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), for example, subpoenaed her damaged hard drive earlier this week, when he asked for “all hard drives, external drives, thumb drives and computers” and “all electronic communication devices the IRS issued to Lois G. Lerner.”

“IT experts have weighed in and said yes — we can get those” emails, said Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) earlier Wednesday.

The latest news suggests such professionals may never get the chance to try again — and the IRS has even said its criminal investigators who specialize in rebuilding hard drives to recover hidden information from criminals were unable to restore the data back in 2011. But this is only likely to further enrage Republicans, who are fuming over the matter and suspect Washington officials drove the selective scrutiny.

The IRS told congressional investigators on Friday that the emails of Lerner, the former head of the tax exempt division that was found to have singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny, were lost from 2009 to 2011 in a computer hard drive crash in early summer 2011. IRS chief John Koskinen will face angry Republicans at a hearing on Friday.

The time frame is significant because the tea party targeting began in spring of 2010, and Republicans think if there was a smoking gun connecting the Obama administration to the IRS treatment of conservative groups, it could be found during that period.

“We believe the standard IRS protocol was followed in 2011 for disposing of the broken hard drive. A bad hard drive, like other broken Information Technology equipment, is sent to a recycler as part of our regular process,” an IRS spokesman said in response to a query from POLITICO.

On Wednesday, the White House retorted that for the time frame in which Lerner’s emails are missing, there are no direct communications between 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and the now-retired Lerner.

Earlier this week, Ways and Means Republicans said as many as six IRS employees involved in the scandal also lost email in computer crashes, including the former chief of staff for the acting IRS commissioner.

That’s because before May 2013, the IRS backed up emails only for six months on a tape, then recycled the tapes, so they essentially threw out the data. Many agencies do the same, transparency experts say.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which wrote the May 2013 report that uncovered the practice of IRS workers singling out some applicants for tax breaks with the words “tea party” for added scrutiny, is currently in possession of Lerner’s laptop and her new hard drive, according to an IRS letter.

The IRS has been able to retrieve about 24,000 of Lerner’s emails sent to other IRS employees by recovering them from other agents who received, sent or were copied on the emails.

However, Koskinen has acknowledged that the IRS wouldn’t be able to find emails Lerner sent outside the agency.

Brian Faler contributed to this report.
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2014, 05:46:00 am »
Its there but in the Microsoft Outlook server. Republican Committee members can issue a subpoena on Microsoft's servers.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax6QGmKhRwo



Quote
Chaffetz: What email system do you use there at the IRS?


Koskinen: What email system do we use?

Chaffetz: Yeah, is it Outlook, or…

Koskinen: Yes, we have actually Microsoft -- or at least I have -- Microsoft Outlook.

Chaffetz: So you go on there, and you want to find all of the items you sent under your name, how long would that take?

Koskinen: Well it'd take awhile because they're not all on my computer. They're all stored somewhere. 

[Skipping ahead]

Chaffetz: That's [part] of the brilliance of the email system. You go in and you check the 'sent' box, and the inbox, and you suddenly have all of the emails, correct?

Koskinen: Right. They get taken off and stored in servers…


http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2014/06/16/flashback-video-irs-commissioner-testified-lerners-emails-are-stored-in-servers-n1851831
« Last Edit: June 20, 2014, 07:38:19 am by Trigger »

Offline fmfdoc

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2014, 06:21:28 am »
There is only one way those emails could be 'gone forever', and that is if the equivalent of a surgical strike were made on the backups. My forty years in the field tells me that this is what happened. Hell, everyone knows they're lying, but as long as they control the data (and they always will), nothing will be found and nothing will happen to anyone at the IRS. Having said that, I would hate to be in Ms Lerner's shoes these days. If the administration even thinks she's about ready to spill the beans, she's a dead gal walking. Also, I'm sure there are lots of people out there who would love to run into her at the grocery store.

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2014, 08:18:32 am »
There is only one way those emails could be 'gone forever', and that is if the equivalent of a surgical strike were made on the backups. My forty years in the field tells me that this is what happened. Hell, everyone knows they're lying, but as long as they control the data (and they always will), nothing will be found and nothing will happen to anyone at the IRS. Having said that, I would hate to be in Ms Lerner's shoes these days. If the administration even thinks she's about ready to spill the beans, she's a dead gal walking. Also, I'm sure there are lots of people out there who would love to run into her at the grocery store.

Either their at the backups in IRS or in the backups at Microsoft. Data Replication is the golden strategy behind them.Companies cannot afford to lose their data.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2014, 08:24:09 am by Trigger »

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2014, 05:13:42 pm »
I would expect that there were in place at that time, rigid federal rules and regulations concerning the proper backups of email and other electronically stored data.

I think the primary objective of her delays is to run the clock out for Obama.

In fact running out the clock, seems to be their m strategy. One might think the opposition party, with many lawyers and career government experts and employees, could figure out some entry point to reach them. ain
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2014, 05:55:26 pm »
Perhaps we should contract the work out to the hackers who seem so adept at cracking systems?  Then again, the Chinese have compromised enough government systems over the last few years that they might have copies of her emails.

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2014, 06:33:52 am »
Perhaps we should contract the work out to the hackers who seem so adept at cracking systems?  Then again, the Chinese have compromised enough government systems over the last few years that they might have copies of her emails.

Then Congress issue an subpoena to have a group of ITs from the FBI or from the Department of Justice to look into the matter?

Offline PzLdr

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2014, 02:36:59 pm »
LIOIS LERNER'S EMAILS LIKELY GONE FOREVER...

Along with the Rule of Law, Accountability, and Justice...

Now they don't even pretend to be non-corrupt.
Hillary's Self-announced Qualifications: She Stood Up To Putin...She Sits to Pee

Offline andy58-in-nh

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #8 on: June 20, 2014, 02:50:51 pm »
Google "Lerner Hard Drive".

Go ahead.

See any mainstream media coverage there (other than FOX)?

Nope.

And so, down the memory hole it will go, along with our freedom. 

"The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2014, 08:47:13 pm »

Oceander

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2014, 12:59:01 am »
Securely Deleting E-mail.

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_securely_delete_email.html

Even if the data for a "deleted" file is overwritten, a skilled forensic examiner with the right tools still has a pretty good chance of extracting a goodly portion of that file's data.  For example, even though digital data is binary - 0 or 1 - the disk in a hard disk is an analog system: atoms that are either pointing more or less in one direction - interpreted as "0" - or more or less in the opposite direction - interpreted as "1".  When a digital bit on a hard drive is changed from 0 to 1, or vice versa, the atoms that represent that bit are "turned" but the "turning" isn't usually a perfect 180 degrees.  Oftentimes, the "turning" is just enough so that the atoms point just closely enough to be read as either a 1 or a 0, depending on whether the now-overwritten data was a 0 or 1, respectively.  "Bare metal" analysis - where a forensic examiner goes right down to examine the physical structure of the disk itself - can find "bit" groups of atoms that are right at the edge of the line between "0" and "1"; an atom in that position is more likely than not to have been just flipped - i.e., the data overwritten - and so the data retrieved from the disk can be analyzed to see if treating that bit as having the other value makes the recovered data more coherent.  Of course, this sort of forensic work is horribly expensive, and it doesn't always work; however, and here's a scary aspect, it can be used to recover data from disks that have been physically damaged by, for example, being broken into pieces.  That means that even taking a hammer to a hard drive doesn't completely wipe the data off the face of the Earth; for that, the disk needs to be melted down.

Offline Lando Lincoln

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2014, 01:05:46 am »
The overarching question is why?  Why would someone go to such lengths knowing that reaction it would cause?  But perhaps even more important is - who?  Who are they protecting with this? 
There are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.
John Steinbeck

Oceander

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #12 on: June 21, 2014, 01:07:17 am »
The overarching question is why?  Why would someone go to such lengths knowing that reaction it would cause?  But perhaps even more important is - who?  Who are they protecting with this? 

why would Nixon erase 18-1/2 minutes of tape?

Offline Lando Lincoln

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #13 on: June 21, 2014, 01:10:23 am »
why would Nixon erase 18-1/2 minutes of tape?

Exactly.  There is only one person that is being protected here.  A two-bit Chicago huckster.
There are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.
John Steinbeck

Oceander

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #14 on: June 21, 2014, 01:19:00 am »
Exactly.  There is only one person that is being protected here.  A two-bit Chicago huckster.


:thumbsup:

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Re: Sources: Lois Lerner’s emails likely gone forever
« Reply #15 on: June 21, 2014, 04:40:08 am »
Even if the data for a "deleted" file is overwritten, a skilled forensic examiner with the right tools still has a pretty good chance of extracting a goodly portion of that file's data.  For example, even though digital data is binary - 0 or 1 - the disk in a hard disk is an analog system: atoms that are either pointing more or less in one direction - interpreted as "0" - or more or less in the opposite direction - interpreted as "1".  When a digital bit on a hard drive is changed from 0 to 1, or vice versa, the atoms that represent that bit are "turned" but the "turning" isn't usually a perfect 180 degrees.  Oftentimes, the "turning" is just enough so that the atoms point just closely enough to be read as either a 1 or a 0, depending on whether the now-overwritten data was a 0 or 1, respectively.  "Bare metal" analysis - where a forensic examiner goes right down to examine the physical structure of the disk itself - can find "bit" groups of atoms that are right at the edge of the line between "0" and "1"; an atom in that position is more likely than not to have been just flipped - i.e., the data overwritten - and so the data retrieved from the disk can be analyzed to see if treating that bit as having the other value makes the recovered data more coherent.  Of course, this sort of forensic work is horribly expensive, and it doesn't always work; however, and here's a scary aspect, it can be used to recover data from disks that have been physically damaged by, for example, being broken into pieces.  That means that even taking a hammer to a hard drive doesn't completely wipe the data off the face of the Earth; for that, the disk needs to be melted down.
 

Interesting

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There were audible gasps in the room today when IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress that Lerner’s hard drive was tossed out. Koskinen testified before the House Ways and Means Committee today on the IRS conservative targeting scandal.

Via OutNumbered:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5XJxfT5dL8





http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/06/audience-gasps-as-irs-commissioner-admits-missing-lois-lerner-hard-drive-was-trashed-video/

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Lawmakers Call On NSA To Turn Over Lerner’s Lost Emails
« Reply #17 on: June 21, 2014, 08:13:50 am »
- The Daily Caller - http://dailycaller.com -



Lawmakers Call On NSA To Turn Over Lerner’s Lost Emails

Posted By Brendan Bordelon On 1:57 PM 06/20/2014 In | No Comments


Republican Congressman Kenny Marchant asked IRS Commissioner John Koskinen Friday if FBI or National Security Agency databases possibly contain copies of the presumably destroyed Lois Lerner emails — the second Texas Republican to suggest the NSA’s domestic spying program could be used to investigate corruption at the tax agency.

Marchant questioned the commissioner as part of a contentious Friday hearing on the lost emails of former IRS Exempt Organizations head Lois Lerner, accused of orchestrating a deliberate campaign against conservative and tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status.

The tax agency claims that two years of Lerner’s email are irrecoverable after her hard drive crashed and IT employees chose to “recycle” the computer. Six other IRS officials in constant contact with Lerner also had computer crashes within the same time period, furthering GOP suspicion of a deliberate cover-up.

But Republicans are intent on retrieving the emails by any means necessary.

On June 13, Texas Congressman Steve Stockman wrote a letter to the NSA requesting that “the Agency produce all metadata it has collected on all of Ms. Lerner’s email accounts for the period between January 2009 and April 2011.”

And on Friday, Marchant asked Commissioner Koskinen his opinion on the unorthodox push to retrieve the emails of Lerner and other suspect officials.

“Is the IRS and its emails exempt from monitoring by the FBI or the NSA?” Marchant asked.

“Uh, I have no information about that,” Koskinen replied. “But I have no indication that we are exempt from anybody’s monitoring.”

“So we don’t know that the emails are not totally all [ir]recoverable, in some process,” the congressman pressed.

“If the NSA was monitoring all of our emails and collecting them and saving them someplace, then they might be there,” Koskinen admitted. “But I’m not aware that that was done.”

 
Follow Brendan on Twitter


Article printed from The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com

URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/20/lawmakers-call-on-nsa-to-turn-over-lerners-lost-emails/