NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document
COMMISSIONERS’ MEMO TO ALL STAFF
To: All Employees
From; Commissioner
Subject: Preservation of World Trade Center-Related Documents and Data
The City is currently defending more than two thousand claims arising from the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and there is the potential for
additional claims to be filed in the future. As a result of this litigation, the City must preserve all
documents concerning the attacks and their aftermath, including data in electronic form.
Employees of this agency are directed to preserve both paper documents and
electronic data concerning the WTC disaster. This means you may not delete, erase, or
otherwise destroy any data relating to the attacks or the City’s response from your computers,
PDAs, agency electronic data systems and any personal electronic equipment that you use in
conjunction with your work. It is impossible to describe every type of electronic data that you
must preserve. However, in general terms, if data may concern any aspect of the events of
September 11, 2001, or their aftermath, it must be preserved. If you have any doubt about
preservation, you must preserve the data.
It is vital that all employees comply with this directive immediately. If you have
any questions, please contact our General Counsel’s Office. Thank you for your cooperation.
NYC-WTC_000153973
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