Missing IRS Emails Were Known Last Fall; Computer Failure Because Of GOP Budget Cuts
So, what is happening now by Darrell Issa and the Republicans is nothing more than political posturing. He accused IRS commissioner John Koskinen of lying to Congress, but Koskinen set him straight.
Mr. Koskinen testified that he had hidden nothing from Congress and that he did not learn until April that Ms. Lerner’s emails were missing. “All the emails we have will be provided,” he said in a testy exchange. “I did not say I would provide you emails that disappeared. If you have a magical way for me to do that, I’d be happy to know about it.”
Further, he said, the committee had been put on notice last fall that some of Ms. Lerner’s emails had disappeared. “So it should be clear that no one has been keeping this information from the Congress,” he said.
One of the reasons for computer failure is Republican budget cuts.
While Republicans saw intentional destruction of evidence, Mr. Koskinen said no one should be surprised if a computer fails, especially “at the I.R.S. in light of the aged equipment I.R.S. employees often have to use in light of the continual cuts in its budget these past four years.”
Anomaly 100 June 24th, 2014 at 8:37 am
Just to play devil’s advocate, to ‘lose’ the emails, wouldn’t they have to be removed 3 times?
mea_mark June 24th, 2014 at 9:00 am
A head crash could destroy all the data making it unrecoverable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_crash
Anomaly 100 June 24th, 2014 at 9:08 am
I see, thanks. It’s just that this happens with every administration and I think it’s out of order.
mea_mark June 24th, 2014 at 11:20 am
If only we could get the republicans to fund a good backup system and maybe up to date equipment for the people that are doing their jobs trying to keep this country running.
Anomaly 100 June 24th, 2014 at 11:26 am
I agree. I’m tired of the partisan fighting and would just like to rectify the situation so it doesn’t pop up every few years.
Dwendt44 June 24th, 2014 at 11:39 am
From what I’ve heard, the personal e-mails were stored for only 6 months then deleted. If that section of the hard drive(s) were over written, the previous info was gone.
Anomaly 100 June 24th, 2014 at 11:49 am
Ah, OK, thanks for the info. I’m a tech-dummy so I’m still trying to work this out.
mea_mark June 24th, 2014 at 9:11 am
I bet the NSA has a backup somewhere of the missing emails.
Shades June 24th, 2014 at 9:17 am
And the Razzie goes to Darrell Issa.
William June 24th, 2014 at 10:15 am
ANOTHER Issa scandal collapse? This guy is like the late night infomercial of the political world.
William June 24th, 2014 at 10:23 am
Then of course there is that logic thingy.
arc99 June 24th, 2014 at 11:20 am
Here is a blast from the past in your daily hypocrite parade, bringing you tales of the glory days of yesteryear when all the stuff that right wingers now say is a dire threat to freedom, was no big deal. Remember when Republicans frowned upon using taxpayer dollars trying to dig up dirt on the political opposition? Ah those were the good old days.
http://www.cnet.com/news/politicos-squabble-over-missing-white-house-e-mails/
February 26, 2008 9:41 AM PST
Democrats and Republicans were warring Tuesday over reports that the White House has “lost”–or simply failed to keep–archives of e-mails belonging to the president and his advisers.
Since last spring, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reformthat an estimated 5 million messages from 473 days between 2003 and 2005 allegedly vanished from e-mail servers housed within the president’s office.
…
Republicans accused the Democrats of pursuing the investigation simply to dig up dirt on Rove and waste hundreds of thousands of dollars of money that the RNC could be using to shore up its candidates’ campaigns.
“Are we simply going on a fishing expedition at $40,000 to $50,000 a month?” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked National Archives and White House officials at the hearing. “Do any of you know of a single document, because this committee doesn’t, that should’ve been in the archives but in fact was done at the RNC?”
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 2:10 pm
Hahahahaha!! http://www.informationweek.com/applications/irs-system-upgrade-shows-progress/d/d-id/1093563?
Obewon June 24th, 2014 at 3:21 pm
Thanks Aire for the e-file software report. -Among its goals were issuing refunds five days faster, offering electronic filing for businesses, web-based services for taxpayers and accountants and improved customer service.
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Snapshot of spending.
https://itdashboard.gov/portfolios/agency=015,bureau=45
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Whittled down a little further.
https://itdashboard.gov/investment?buscid=1070
Obewon June 24th, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Of FY-14’s $3.5 trillion what percent is this FY2014 (CY) spending $182 M increasing, or declining relative to inflation?
Obewon June 24th, 2014 at 4:10 pm
Thx but what does this have to do what a non-redundant ancient hard drive breaking? Do you think he’s ‘in on it?’ -Self-described ‘conservative Republican’ admits he began IRS targeting of tea party & OWS groups! http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/10/self-described-conservative-republican-began-irs-targeting-of-tea-party-groups/
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 2:34 pm
Oh dear.
Ironically, the commissioner also insisted that outdated technology was to blame and that it would cost the IRS $10-$30 million to update its systems.
In response, Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) reminded Koskinen that the IRS paid $89 million in bonuses last year, including $1 million to employees who owed back taxes. Not a good day for the defiant commissioner of the IRS.
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/06/150307-trey-gowdy-republicans-absolutely-obliterate-irs-commissioner-lost-lerner-emails/
Obewon June 24th, 2014 at 3:12 pm
1% to 3% of Google’s brand new hard drives crash. Older hard drives always fail, just like faux scandals: -Self-described ‘conservative Republican’ Admits he began IRS targeting of tea party & OWS groups! http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/10/self-described-conservative-republican-began-irs-targeting-of-tea-party-groups/
Remember GWB’s 22 million White House e-mail’s purposely deleted against the Law? -The 22 million e-mails “would never have been found but for our lawsuits and pressure from Capitol Hill,” said Anne Weismann, chief counsel for CREW. “It was only then that they did this reanalysis and found as a result that there were 22 million e-mails that they were unable to account for before.” http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34419592/ns/politics/t/millions-missing-bush-admin-e-mails-found/#.U6nLCvldUiU
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 3:47 pm
I do remember, it wasn’t okay then, it’s not okay now. Or is it??? Older hard drives are connected to redundant servers, servers are backed up regularly, there is also off site storage. The e-mails, were also on the recipient’s server. Of course, we’ve now learned 6 other hard drives have crashed. Ha ha ha ha ha!
Obewon June 24th, 2014 at 4:24 pm
A broken hard drive isn’t GWB’s WH purposely & illegally deleted emails. IMO evidence proves most of their entire admin was criminal. The Obama admin has been ‘accused’ of everything, but Issa’s 50 weeks of hearings per week delivered “0 indictments.” Your Rep (R AL-2) Martha Roby is on the New Ben Ghazi expose team.
bahlers June 25th, 2014 at 7:56 pm
The supposed crash took place a week after the House initially started the investigation into the allegations by the conservative groups. I’m not an IT person and I know that you are. So, how likely is it that 7 separate hard drives, all in connection to the scandal, all crash on the same day? Also, from my understanding of email, it is not tied to the hard drive, emails are stored on servers, all of which the IRS has repeatedly said did not crash. So, why is it they are unable to provide emails, which are required by law to be backed up on paper when the possibility of a law suit is likely (and the conservative groups all had filed lawsuits before the crash)? And you liberals say there is no cover up. Nixon was impeached over the deletion of 8 min of conversation, we are talking about years of emails that are lost here and there is a very strong possibility that the IRS was used in a political manner, this is much bigger than Watergate IMO.
Obewon June 25th, 2014 at 8:13 pm
This non-scandal imploded long ago via Issa’s 50 weeks of hearings delivering “0 indictments” Issa debunks himself by testimony he tries to keep secret. -A Self-described ‘conservative Republican’ Admitted he began IRS targeting of tea party (and OWS) groups. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/10/self-described-conservative-republican-began-irs-targeting-of-tea-party-groups/
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 4:15 pm
Amusing video. McNealy: IRS email loss ‘stunning’ – CNBC
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000287138
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 4:20 pm
Guess we now know who to go after. 😉 Iron Bow??
Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
As the fourth largest provider of IT to IRS, Iron Bow has been planning, supplying, managing and supporting solutions for the Department of Treasury, the IRS and its other bureaus since 1998.
Supported the evolution of the IRS infrastructure through the refresh and support of more than 110,000 seats and thousands of servers
Provided a common network and telephony template used across all IRS Service Centers, district and field offices
Deployed over 2,200 phones in 32 locations and provided on-site engineering support to all 112 IP Telephony locations
http://www.ironbow.com/Contracts/BlanketPurchasingAgreements/~/media/Files/PDFs/Contracts/CN-04_TCV_BPA.pdf
Obewon June 24th, 2014 at 4:28 pm
Who made the Hard drive & what’s the MTBF (average time to fail)?
Debra Watkins June 24th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
Iron Bow provides leading solutions with the HP product line of desktops, laptops, servers, SAN technology, corporate backup devices, switches and printers to the IRS and other Treasury Bureaus.
Having provided over 150,000 units during the past five years, Iron Bow has a proven track record of delivery with the IRS and the other Treasury Bureaus. From desktop and laptop refresh goals, to server consolidation and SAN data silos, to backup enterprise pools and printer resources, Iron Bow delivers.
But of course this has NOTHING to do with GOP budget cuts to the IRS. 😉
Trumbull Desi June 24th, 2014 at 6:52 pm
Evidently the equipment is so old that there have been 2000 HDD failures this year alone.
Obewon June 24th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
GOP Motto: Don’t fix anything. Make sure everything breaks & do as much harm as possible. Cheney in 2016~ campaign slogan.
Dwendt44 June 24th, 2014 at 6:41 pm
And yet, Issa refuses to subpoena Lerner’s immediate supervisor.