Office of Records That Should Not Exist

Unredacted Redaction Logs

HAEB-ARC-06 WITHHELD CAP Rev. 12.4

Collection

Unredacted Redaction Logs

Access state

WITHHELD

Custodial office

Office of Records That Should Not Exist

Cataloged

August 22, 2026

Scope and content

The Bureau maintains a public redaction log. Every black bar in the Bureau’s published holdings carries an identifier, and every identifier resolves to an entry in that log stating the authority for the withholding and the reason for it. The public log is complete and is available in the register of redactions.

This collection consists of the unredacted copies of that log.

An unredacted copy contains the material the redacted copy withholds. It is therefore withheld. The collection is described in full and produced in no part.

Extent and arrangement

Collection extent: 6 linear feet, 7 series, 214 entries described. Entries available: 0.

Arrangement follows the arrangement of the public log, which is chronological by date of withholding rather than by date of document. Two entries are filed at the date of the document because the date of withholding is one of the withheld fields.

Conditions governing access

The collection is withheld in full under Directive 9.9, section 4.

Requests for access are accepted. Requests are logged. The log of requests is public, and a request for access to this collection therefore appears in the public redaction log alongside the entry the request concerns.

The Office will confirm that a requested entry exists. The Office will confirm that it is withheld. The Office will not confirm which of the two confirmations was the more informative.

Container list

URL-1844-01

Unredacted copy of public log entry R-1844-01. Extent: 1 leaf.

The public entry records that nine characters were withheld from a transcript recovered from Field Device 4, that the withheld term is not approved for public use until 1993, and that publishing the term would require the Bureau to prevent it.

The unredacted copy contains the nine characters. It is withheld for that reason.

URL-1908-02

Unredacted copy of the public log entry for the Office of Internal Historical Affairs receipt for the founding authority, 1908. Extent: 1 leaf.

Withholding authority: Directive 9.9, section 4. Basis: founding reference.

Scope and content. The public entry records that a quantity was withheld from field 6 of the receipt, copies received, and that the withholding protects a founding reference. The unredacted copy records the quantity, which is 0.

Access. Withheld. The public entry remains available and is unaffected by this description.

URL-1936-002

Not held.

The unredacted copy was destroyed in 1962 under Records Schedule 12/4, item 11, which authorizes destruction of an unredacted copy once the redacted copy has been declared permanent. The redacted copy is permanent.

The destruction certificate is held. It is withheld, because it names the material destroyed.

URL-1963-009

Unredacted copy of a public log entry withholding the name of an office. Extent: 1 leaf.

Withholding authority: Directive 9.9, section 4. Basis: an office whose existence is not published.

Scope and content. The public entry withholds the name. The unredacted copy withholds the name. The withholding on the unredacted copy is in the same position, in a different ink, and cites no authority.

URL-1974-041

Unredacted copy of the withholding series prepared during the 1974 records consolidation. Extent: 22 leaves.

Scope and content. Records 1,106 withholdings performed in a single year. 1,106 authorities are cited. 1,104 of them are Directive 9.9. The remaining two cite an authority by title rather than by number, and the title is one of the withheld fields.

Access. Withheld. The Office notes that the series is the largest single item in this collection and the only one whose extent is not disputed.

URL-2026-003

Unredacted copy of the public log entry recording the withholding of this collection. Extent: 1 leaf.

Scope and content. The entry records that a collection of unredacted redaction logs is withheld, cites Directive 9.9, section 4, and gives the collection’s identifier.

Access. Withheld under the authority the entry records.

URL-UNFILED-000

Unredacted copy of a public log entry withholding a matter whose withholding authority is itself withheld. Extent: 1 leaf.

Custodian: Employee 000.

Scope and content. The entry cites no directive, no section, and no reason from the approved list. It cites a case reference in the unfiled series and a date that has been removed from the copy on which the removal is recorded.

Access. Withheld. No withholding authority is cited for this withholding, and the Office has not been asked to supply one.

Related material

1. The register of redactions, the public log, which is available in full.
2. HAEB Directive 9.9, Records That Should Not Exist.
3. HAEB Directive 7.4, Premature Language and Unauthorized Foreshadowing, cited at URL-1844-01.
4. CASE HAEB-1908-NULL, Authority Not Found, for the receipt described at URL-1908-02.

Finding aid note

Prepared by Elias P. Thorne, Acting Director, Office of Records That Should Not Exist.

Descriptions are prepared in full whether or not the record can be produced. The Office does not shorten a description to match an access state, and does not regard a description as a partial release.

The public redaction log accounts for every withholding in the Bureau’s holdings. This collection accounts for the public redaction log. It is withheld under the authority it describes.