Wednesday night, ABC News reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio “has been the acting archivist” at the National Archives and Records Administration “since shortly after President Trump’s inauguration.”
The idea that Rubio might be their new boss—and has been their boss, apparently, for weeks—is news to National Archives employees and apparently to its current director Colleen Shogan. Shogan held an all-hands meeting with archives employees on Tuesday in which nothing was said about Rubio and in which Shogan still seemed to be in charge.
“The suggestion that he’s been the archivist since the transition is a lie or misunderstanding, we just had a staff meeting with Shogan Tuesday,” one NARA employee told 404 Media. “Everyone is very confused. My coworkers seem to mostly assume it’s a bad news source.”
404 Media agreed to provide anonymity to sources in this article to discuss sensitive issues.
404 Media obtained notes from that all-hands meeting, in which Shogan was introduced as “the archivist of the United States” and in which she spoke at length about working with the Trump administration in recent weeks. Shogan is still listed as the Archivist of the United States on NARA’s website.
“We are required by law to follow the direction of the President, and we must implement the administration’s guidance,” Shogan said. “I understand that many of you are experiencing uncertainty and pressure from these developments, and I acknowledge the times of change are not easy, but I also believe that change can be an opportunity for growth, innovation, and strategic thinking.”
A NARA employee told 404 Media that Shogan has been working with the White House in recent days and that they are not aware of any changes to her role. A theme of Tuesday’s all hands was the idea that much of the federal government is being surprised with a variety of executive orders and actions and that everyone is doing the best they can with limited information.
“Over the last two weeks, the President has released about 70 executive actions,” Shogan said. “We are often learning about these decisions at the same time you are. Many of these orders are complex and we are getting new guidance from OPM [Office of Personnel Management] and OMB [Office of Management and Budget] every day and have had to take specific actions under tight deadlines. We’re doing everything that we can to make the best choices possible for the National Archives and deliver clear information to you.”
Jay Boskano, the deputy director of NARA, told employees in the meeting that “we’ve not had any requests from DOGE and they have not contacted us and are not looking to gain access as far as we know to any of our systems.” DOGE is the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk and a small group of young engineers from Musk’s private companies who have seized control of Federal infrastructure, gaining access to the Treasury Department’s payment system and classified information at USAID. DOGE has also removed several programs or mere mentions of “DEI” across a number of government agencies and websites.
“There may be unique opportunities to work with DOGE to position the archives but at this point, we haven’t had any contact from them,” he added.
404 Media spoke to four NARA employees and asked whether they had heard anything about Rubio apparently having run the agency for weeks. “Lmao, no Shogan is still in place,” one said. “She addressed us this week. Also, why Marco Rubio? State Department and NARA have no overlap.”
NARA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.