On December 6th, the CIA admitted that it had destroyed videotaped evidence of detainee interrogations. The taped interrogations occurred in 2002, and the tapes were destroyed in 2005, allegedly after they were of no value to the CIA and were not needed for investigations. PC World writes that though the CIA is a government agency and not subject to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, private companies engaging in the same actions could be subject to severe sanctions for destruction of evidence. The Federal Rules require companies to keep electronic records when faced with a lawsuit or the possibility of a lawsuit. There also can be punishment for failure to keep required electronic records. The CIA press release can be found here and the PC World article here.