With the transition process in Afghanistan under way, the repatriation of records accumulated in the Middle East Area of Operations has become a focus for Australia’s Defence Forces. Colonel Kath Stewart is leading the Defence Information Management Tiger Team, which is tackling the challenge head-on.

Imagine the quantity of administrative, equipment and logistics records generated by 1550 ADF personnel on continuous rotation to Afghanistan over 10 years. Add to that a decade's worth of operational records relating to missions, intelligence, planning, health, finance and communications, and you have some idea of the massive information challenge facing Defence as the transition to Afghan-led security in Uruzgun province continues over the next 12 to 14 months.

To take on this challenge and develop a solution, the Defence Information Management Tiger Team was formed in June 2012. The team, led by Colonel Kath Stewart, Director J6 - ICT Plans within the Chief Information Officer Group, is overseen by a steering committee headed by Major General Michael Milford, Head of ICT Operations, and Rear Admiral Stephen Gilmore, Deputy Chief of Joint Operations.

"The disposal and movement of records in environments such as the Middle East have risks associated," Colonel Stewart says.

"There is a risk to life and property if hard copy information was to be carried out whole instead of being properly managed and reduced in theatre, however, the legal requirements under the Archives Act and other legislation remain the same.

"With unit rotations, embedded staff, contractors and Defence civilians coming and going, there are vast amounts of digital records being generated on our ICT systems. Add to this the creation of Defence records on coalition systems and on other local area networks, as well as the huge accumulation of paper records stored on pallets and in shipping containers, then this makes for considerable planning and effort when making decisions about what can be destroyed in theatre and what must be brought back to Australia."

The quantity of records being held in theatre is diverse and difficult to measure accurately. It includes imagery records on detainee management, CCTV footage, video from unmanned aerial systems and individual helmet cams, threat assessments, weapons intelligence and counter intelligence reports, through to personnel administration and logistics records detailing maintenance and supply.

"These records need to be integrated with the information management network back in Australia," Colonel Stewart says.

With this goal in mind, the Tiger Team conducted a review of current policy, which included incorporating recent legislative changes to the Freedom of Information Act 1982, Archives Act 1983 and the Evidence Act 1995. The result will provide a solution for the retention, disposal and repatriation of operational records.

"This includes writing procedures for future operations and providing a digitisation solution in the form of high-speed scanners and laptop computers installed with the Defence mandated document and records management system, Objective," Colonel Stewart says.

However, the key component to the solution is the formulation of an Operations Records Authority.

"Records Authorities are legal instruments issued to Commonwealth Agencies by the National Archives of Australia under the Archives Act. They set out the legal requirements for keeping, destroying or transferring records," she says. To develop an Operations Records Authority, the Directorate of Records Management Policy (DRMP) has worked closely with the National Archives.

"This was a significant achievement," Colonel Stewart explains, "particularly as this was the first time a Commonwealth agency has ever been able to influence or re-design how Records Authorities are written."

The Operations Records Authority will help personnel in the field by providing them with the information they require to categorise records and to understand which records must be retained and which may be destroyed.

DRMP, in conjunction with the Tiger Team, is developing other tools to help with the disposal of low-value records and is developing Emergency Records Authorities which, if approved by National Archives, will allow for the early disposal of some specific record types the ADF has accumulated in huge quantities.

As part of the strategy to improve the storage and administration of records in theatre, specific training in information management will become a feature of force preparation training. Commanders, chief clerks and medical officers will receive higher levels of training because of the importance of the information they generate.

Specialised information management officers are also being sent to Afghanistan to advise commanders on information and records management policy and other legal issues regarding records freezes, and records standards and practices.

 The build-up of operational information in the Middle East is not unique to Australia. Colonel Stewart says some coalition partners have a lot more troops and a lot more information than the ADF, "so we are all working together and coming up with policies that support each other".

These policies will include memorandums of understanding, which will allow nations to share greater amounts of information and significantly reduce the information management burden on all participants.

The repatriation of records in the Middle East has begun, but having it in a suitable form that can be more easily mapped to Defence's fixed networks for proper storage and sentencing was due to start at the beginning of 2013