In letters sent to federal authorities, the American Historical Association objected to recent disclosures that the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed records from interrogations of individuals suspected of terrorism, and requested action to prevent further loss.

The letters, signed by AHA Executive Director Arnita Jones with the unanimous support of the AHA Council, note that these records were "historically significant and legally important, and their destruction impoverishes the historical record of U.S. involvement in the Middle East."

Citing the Association's long history of defending the preservation and treatment of federal records (extending back to the Association's first proposal for a national archives in 1906), the letter urges "the CIA to inform all its employees that records may not be alienated or destroyed except under the procedures of the Federal Records Act"; calls on "the National Archives and Records Administration [to] review the records schedules of the CIA to ensure that all records of investigations and interrogations are appropriately scheduled"; and "encourages the Department of Justice in its investigation and prosecution of this violation of the Federal Records Act."

The letters were sent to Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States; Michael Mukasey, attorney general; General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA; Representative Henry A. Waxman, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; and Senator Jay Rockefeller, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

First published (on February 20, 2008) as a post by Robert B. Townsend on the AHA blog, AHA Today.