What is NARA?

NARA is the National Archives and Records Administration, the independent U.S. federal agency that serves as the nation’s recordkeeper. It has two intertwined missions: preserving and providing public access to the permanently valuable records of the federal government, and overseeing how all federal agencies manage their records.

What NARA does

• Preserves permanent records. Federal records appraised as having enduring value are transferred to NARA, which keeps them and makes them available to the public — from the Declaration of Independence to census records to agency case files.
• Oversees federal records management. NARA issues the regulations (Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations), approves agency records schedules, publishes the government-wide General Records Schedule, and provides guidance — including the push to fully electronic recordkeeping.
• Authorizes disposition. Federal records may be destroyed only under disposition authority granted by the Archivist of the United States, who leads NARA. Unauthorized destruction of federal records is unlawful.

Why it matters

NARA is the reason U.S. government recordkeeping is one of the most structured systems in the world. Its oversight underpins government transparency and accountability — including the ability to answer FOIA requests — and it ensures the documentary record of the government survives for future generations.

NARA also runs related programs, such as the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which oversees the classification and declassification system, and the Office of Government Information Services, the federal FOIA ombudsman.