To the Editor:

“Closing the Court of History,” by Matthew Connelly (Op-Ed, Feb. 5), has a number of misleading statements about the National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA.

The disposition schedule for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainee records was approved after NARA took into account more than 23,000 public comments over more than two years. The result of this extensive review process is that ICE’s detainee death review files are now designated as having permanent historical value, and ICE must retain records involving allegations of sexual assault and abuse for 25 years.

State Department permanent records identified by machine learning algorithms will continue to be turned over to us. Further, the overwhelming majority of correspondence of State Department under secretaries is captured in emails, which are permanent records.

NARA will not stop accepting paper records because “it simply doesn’t have any more room for them.” Rather, the Office of Management and Budget and NARA issued Memorandum M-19-21 directing all agencies to transition to electronic records for more efficient and effective electronic recordkeeping. This is a groundbreaking step toward a digital future, in keeping with the way modern records are created and with the expectations of the public and other stakeholders in getting access to their government’s records.