Feb. 14, 2025-DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton today announced that his office will be canceling all contracts with Iron Mountain that were established under previous administrations. This decision aligns with Barton’s commitment to more efficient government spending and prioritizing the safety of residents.
“This morning, I directed my team to cancel all contracts with Iron Mountain that were established under previous administrations,” said District Attorney Barton. “Elon (Musk) and DOGE are correct—paying high fees for paper storage in 2025 is not an efficient use of government resources. We will redirect those funds towards protecting our residents instead.”
This move reflects Barton’s ongoing efforts to streamline government operations and ensure taxpayer money is used to directly benefit public safety in the most efficient way. By ending the costly paper storage agreements, Barton intends to reallocate those resources to initiatives focused on public safety and law enforcement.
Iron Mountain is a company that manages a data storage facility located 220 feet underground in a former limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania. This facility is used by the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to process and store federal employee retirement paperwork. The process is notably manual, with over 700 employees handling approximately 10,000 applications monthly, leading to extended processing times.
Recently, Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), criticized this outdated system. In an Oval Office press conference, Musk highlighted the inefficiencies of processing retirement paperwork in an underground mine, describing the setup as reminiscent of the 1950s. He emphasized the need for modernization to improve efficiency and reduce processing times.
In response, Iron Mountain’s CEO, Bill Meaney, acknowledged the criticisms but viewed the push for government efficiency as a growth opportunity. He noted that while the company earns about $10 million annually from storing physical documents for the government, it generates significantly more—$130 million—from its data center and digitization services. Meaney suggested that Iron Mountain’s expertise in digital transformation aligns with the government’s goals for increased efficiency.
