Originally Posted by
SRENNAPS
Since the IT revolution in the RAF (when it finally sunk in to officers that computers were a good thing) there has been paranoia about holding data.
Actually had the reverse paranoia about 4-5 years ago (?) when the FOI came in.
There was a massive clear out of paper and instructions to clean out old files, computer files and the like. The delete folder was to be emptied at switch off etc.
The main driver was to avoid being caught by the Act. The more we held the less likely we would be to know we held it and thus could be open to charges if we unwittingly concealed something.
At the same time the D CinC STC, now CinC Air, declared the arrival of the paperless office. Of course that didn't work as we didn't have the scanner/filer/shredder systems in place.
On holding data, I took over a job that had been gapped. With the job came about 6 filing cabinets but no keys. I managed to get through 3 of them before I was posted. One of them contained ancient reports on many of the staff when they had been students. Like a priest I kept my council. Twenty years on I can reveal that one highly respected instructor had a very marginal pass when he was first trained. Still it proved the initial assessment and subsequent training system all worked.