[Sabertooth]

Why would anyone need to steal copies?

Nicosia said that the 14 boxes of files in his possession had taken 11 years to accumulate, and that the three boxes that were stolen were previously unexamined.

Various member of the press and the Kerry campaign had been given access to selected docs, and Nicosia said that many of them had handled or touched various boxes, thereby providing an alibi for any fingerprints that turn up later.

There's no guarantee the missing files can be replaced in any sort of timely manner, and since Nicosia doesn't know their contents, he'll have no way of knowing that replacement files are identical to the stolen files. See #11 above for details.

The FBI needs to locate and secure the originals yesterday.

Flagging a few folks who've asked similar questions.

[HenryLeeII]

If he obtained these through FOIA he should have an itemized listing in addition to the documents, supplied by the FBI (or whichever agency supplied the photocopies). Also, because of the FOIA process through which photocopies are released, the originals (or at least the releasable portions) are now declassified and obtaining new copies should be possible within 6-8 weeks.

However, if the missing documents didn't come through FOIA, but were simply accumulated from open sources, then Mr. Nicosia (and the country, in general) has learned the value of a copier and not letting untrustworthy folks paw through his collection!

I'm not trying to bust anybody's chops here or discount the work and value of Mr. Nicosia (I know nothing about him and therefore have nothing to base an opinion of him on); I'm just relaying what I know after working in the records management field in the federal government.

[mtbopfuyn]

Thanks for the details. The only one to benefit from any of these files going "missing" is Kerry, not Bush. Surely, Nicosia has a list of what was in the boxes if he needed to go back for a second set of copies. Just because he hadn't examined some boxes doesn't mean no one knows what was in them. He made a request for the papers so he must have a copy of the request and whoever sent the boxes should also have a list of the requested materials. Interesting he made note that Kerry's campaign had access to them as an excuse for fingerprints. I smell a big hairy RAT.