By
Oscar Y. Harward
IRS Commissioner
John Koskinen was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by a Democrat
Party majority U.S. Senate on December 20, 2013, as Commissioner of the IRS, a
division of the US Treasury Department.
On June
20, 2014 Commissioner John Koskinen testified, concerning
the charges that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is/are/was ‘targeting’
Conservatives, Patriots, TEA
Party members and supporters, and other similar groups, by delaying and or denying
their First Amendment Rights and under US Tax Code, 501(c)(4) authorizations.
His June
20, 2014 US House ‘Hearing’ responses appeared to be light on detail; even to
the point of evading direct questions. Commissioner
Koskinen stated that there are no apologies from the IRS to targeted Americans for
the IRS alleged ‘illegal’ actions.
As IRS
Commissioner, John Koskinen has direct responsibility for everything that
occurs under his command, not excluding ongoing events that occurred prior to
his taking responsibility for the IRS.
John
Koskinen, as Commissioner of the IRS, has an obligation to insure that all existing
regulations, laws, and other policies are followed, new policies are
implemented where necessary, and for taking corrective action anytime policies
are not being followed.
However,
in the June 20, 2014 hearings, Mr. Koskiene appeared to be more interested in shielding
wrongful IRS employees than in investigating, discovering, prosecuting, and/or
even solving problems in the IRS.
Furthermore, Mr. Koskiene offers no solutions to these possible ‘illegal’
undertaking activities.
The Lois
Learner's ‘missing E-mails’ illuminates a dangerous pattern of the IRS. Their action positions display ‘illegal’
activity on the IRS's ability to manage its’ own Information Systems and/or to
enforce it, as well as the US Treasury Department's, policies concerning data
storage, maintenance, and record archiving.
‘WE, THE PEOPLE’ have reason to be very concerned since
the IRS has enormous authority over our lives and our potentials. Americans should look at some of the Treasury
Department’s and IRS’s policy manuals concerning the IRS's ‘requirement’
handling of their own E-mails.
“The
Internal Revenue Service is required by federal law to keep records of all
agency emails and to print out hard copies of the emails to make sure they get
saved in the event of a computer glitch.”
“The
[Federal Records Act] requires agencies to make and preserve records of agency
decisions, policies, and essential transactions, and to take steps to safeguard
against the loss of agency records,” said House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, who subpoenaed IRS Commissioner John
Koskinen Monday.
1.
"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.
2.
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
In keeping with the Federal
Records Act of 1950, as amended, and pursuant to Title 44, USC Section 3102,
the IRS established a records management program - renamed Records and
Information Management (RIM) Program - to ensure the economical and efficient
management of its records. The program provides for the application, on a
continuing basis, of sound management practices and techniques in the creation,
maintenance, retrieval, preservation, and disposition of all records.
1. PURPOSE. This Directive provides policies
and assigns responsibilities for records management, forms management, and
interagency reports management. This Directive also authorizes the issuance of
Treasury Department Publication (TD P) 80-05, Records and Information
Management (RIM) Manual, which includes additional policy guidance for specific
categories of records.
2. SCOPE. This Directive applies to all
Treasury bureaus and offices. This Directive applies to all records of the
Treasury Department, as defined in the Federal Records Act, regardless of
medium, which are created, collected, processed, used, stored and/or destroyed
by Treasury bureaus and offices.
d. Electronic mail (e-mail) message is a document created or
received on an e-mail system, including brief notes, more formal and
substantive documents and any attachments, such as word processing documents
transmitted, but not created, on an e-mail system.
Mr. Koskinen must know that it is illegal
and prosecutable to ‘removed or alter’ records of the IRS. Why does he appear to be less than
forthcoming in solving the problem with these emails? As the Commissioner of the IRS and a branch
of the US Treasury Department, he knows that the IRS are required to periodically
backup and preserve these records on a server?
The evidence is mounting that President
Obama, Capitol Hill Democrats, and many others in the IRS, including IRS
Commissioner Hah Koskinen, may be participants in Lois Learner’s ‘lost’ E-mail
cover-up.
