Section 2: Record Destruction Procedures

Destruction of Records Retained Locally

Districts and Divisions may destroy records retained locally once the total retention period has been met. The Office of Primary Responsibility must document the destruction of official records on a 1420 Records Destruction Form and submit via DocuSign to Records Management for final approval of destruction.
Local Review and Approval Procedures
Step
Who
Action
1
Records Coordinator
 or
Records Administrator
  • Review’s
     records File Plan to identify records that have met their retention periods and are eligible for destruction.
  • Lists
    records for destruction on 1420 Records Destruction Form.
2
Records Coordinator
  • Forwards
     the completed 1420 Records Destruction Form to the Records Administrator for review/signature.
3
Records Administrator
  • Reviews
     1420 Records Destruction Form to verify records have met retention requirements.
  • If destruction is denied
    , the Records Administrator should explain the reason for denial and return 1420 Records Destruction Form to the Records Coordinator.
  • If destruction is approved
    , the Record Administrator will submit the 1420 Records Destruction Form to Records Management via DocuSign for final approval of destruction.
4
Records Management
  • Verifies
     that the records listed on the 1420 Records Destruction Form have met records retention requirements.
  • If the destruction is denied
    , Records Management should explain the reason for denial and return 1420 Records Destruction Form to the Records Administrator.
  • If the destruction is approved
    , the destruction of records can be performed.
  • The retention requirement
     on the 1420 Records Destruction Form is 10 years per OIS05.
  • Records Management is the Office of Primary Responsibility for 1420 Records Destruction Form
    .
Destruction of Stored Records at Records Management Warehouse
Step
Who
Action
1
Records Management
  • Verifies
     Records (Boxes) that have met destruction at Records Management Warehouse.
  • Submits
     an IT Physical Records Request on behalf of the Records Administrator to review records eligible for destruction.
  • Attaches
     the 1419 Records Transmittal Form to the IT Physical Records Request or emails directly to the Records Administrator.
2
Records Administrator
  • If records are approved
     for destruction a 1420 Records Destruction Form is submitted to Records Management for final approval of destruction of records.
  • If Records Management approves
     the 1420 Records Destruction Form, then the Records Administrator attaches the approved Form to the IT Physical Records Request.
  • If records need to be retained
    , then a new 1419 Records Transmittal Form must be submitted.
3
Records Management
  • Remove records from inventory
     and coordinate with vendor for destruction.
  • Close IT Physical Records Request.

Electronic Deletion of Records Stored on Devices

Record "deletion" removes the index marker from the device; the record remains to be written over, much like recording over an old audio or video tape. Eventually the record may disappear through fragmentation and overwrites; however, the possibility of forensic reconstruction exists.
Full deletion of obsolete records involves drive formatting and recopying to ensure complete removal, which is generally impractical. A possible solution involves retaining selected high-risk records on a server dedicated to managing volatile records through a combination of file deletion, copying, disk formatting and reloading procedures. If you have a large quantity of e-records, or a device drive to erase or reformat, you should contact IT.
Methods of Deleting Data from Devices:
  • Overwrite
     a Hard Drive three (3) times (recommended by the Department of Defense)
  • Degauss
     (neutralize with a magnetic field)
  • Physically
     destroy the media by
    • Shredding
    • Pulverizing
    • Drilling Holes