The Trump administration pushed out the acting archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration earlier this week. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that NARA’s professional leadership was being temporarily replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who’s also acting administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with senior adviser Jim Byron, the CEO of the Nixon Foundation.

Upheaval at NARA, especially if it is accompanied by the scale of layoffs that are starting to impact other agencies, could degrade recordkeeping ability across the government and ultimately deprive the public of access to our most important records.

Here are five questions the public should be asking about the Archives and why the answers matter:

  1. What steps are being taken to ensure agencies aren’t given a free pass to destroy records? NARA has many responsibilities, including investigating unauthorized removal or destruction of agency records (like the Department of Justice removing a database from its website detailing criminal charges and convictions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol). Amid reports that more firings are imminent, the public needs to know that NARA’s critical investigative functions aren’t being gutted.
  2. What qualifies the CEO of the Nixon Foundation to help lead the agency responsible for providing access to records? Appointing Byron to a senior role is a concerning decision, considering the Nixon Foundation was established to honor the legacy of a president who fought to keep his records hidden from the public, and whose board members objected to a museum exhibit that accurately portrayed the Watergate scandal. The public deserves full access to NARA’s records, and for it to be presented without partisan bias.
  3. Would a Trump-appointed archivist try to stop Trump from stealing records at the end of his term and taking them back to Mar-a-Lago (again)? Radio host Hugh Hewitt suggested in an interview with Trump earlier this year that all of Trump’s “problems in Florida at Mar-a-Lago started because the Archivist complained to the DOJ.” He went on to suggest Trump should appoint “a new Archivist so we don’t have to do this again when you leave office again.” It is wrong to imply that NARA was at fault in trying to recover Trump’s presidential records from Florida, and the public shouldn’t have to worry that Trump will do it again — and without any objection from NARA.
  4. Will the administration’s anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion crusade impact NARA-supported projects like the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board? The board, which was signed into law by Trump in 2018, is Congressionally authorized through 2026, but it relies on NARA to collect and provide access to the historical records it reviews. Political headwinds are markedly different in 2025 than they were in 2018; the Pentagon banned celebrating Black History Month this year, and the National Security Agency censored a museum exhibit dedicated to women and people of color who served the agency. Congress should make sure that any similar changes at NARA don’t impede the board’s work.
  5. Who will ultimately get the nomination to serve as archivist? Hewitt has been named as a potential replacement, as has far-right reporter John Solomon, who famously helped advance conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden. Ezra Cohen, who is a member of the Public Interest Declassification Board and who has been a frequent critic of overclassification, has also been named as a potential nominee. The archivist should not be someone whose sole qualifications are loyalty to the president; it must be someone who can speak knowledgeably about the real challenges NARA faces and bolster its work providing access to federal records.

A hostile takeover of NARA is concerning. But potential opportunities do exist — depending who gets the final appointment as archivist.

The most notable opportunity is the potential for NARA to be more aggressive and proactive in its declassification mission.

NARA plays critical roles helping agencies declassify important government records and ensuring they are following classification rules properly, but successive archivists have been unable (or unwilling) to prioritize the archive’s de/classification mission.

If the next archivist were willing to aggressively promote declassification — including securing more funding and authority for the National Declassification Center, as well as more resources for the Information Security Oversight Office so it could effectively monitor agencies’ classification programs — this would make it more difficult for the government to keep too many secrets.

The risks that NARA faces are great, and the public shouldn’t settle for anything less than independent and professional stewardship of the National Archives. Our history — and our understanding of our present moment — is at stake.