Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA) sued the government to restore millions of emails that had gone “missing” during the Bush administration. The Bush administration was aware of the flaw in their email backup system that was allowing millions of emails to slip through the system suspiciously during sensitive points in the administration such as the run up to the Iraq war. The emails were previously thought to be unrecoverable because the last administration claimed there was no way to recover them.

CREW and the NSA lost in court for lack of standing, but the Obama administration is still seeking the recovery and release of these missing emails even though they are legally not required to. It’s a positive development towards transparency that is needed in the current administration. Unfortunately, it may take years to recover all of the information and currently the most time sensitive days and weeks of emails are in the process of being restored so we can understand the thinking behind the war in Iraq and other policy decisions.