add background

docs/how-to/account-decommissioning/README.md

@@ -1,23 +1,33 @@
 # AWS Account Decommissioning
 
+This document describe the prerequisite steps before decommissing an AWS account.  We want to be sure that the customer
+and their division chief is aware of the destructive nature of this action.
+
+When we delete an AWS account, it takes about 90 days before the account is completely removed.  During that time, any
+resources which still exist will be billed.  One reason we decommission account is because of funding issues.  We do not want
+to keep the resources around, so before we delete the account, we will destroy all the resources.
+
+The purpose of this step is to get a signed acknowledgement by the division chief and the point of contact. This is intended to
+prevent inadvertent deletion of resources, most importantly data, which is an unrecoverable event.
+
 ## Getting Started
 
 1. Download the [aws-account-decommission.docx](aws-account-decommission.docx) file.
-2. Add AWS the Account ID (10 characters) and Alias Name for both the linked commercial account and the govcloud account to the table located just above the Account Owner signature block. 
-3. Save the PDF as aws-account-decommission.{label}.pdf where **{label}** is the prefix of the account alias without the -ew or -gov.
-4. Send a copy of the PDF to the respective POC (Point of Contact) and the Division Chief of the POC, make sure to also CC **csvd.aws@census.gov** in the email.
-5. Ask the POC to read, digitally sign the PDF and reply-all in the email with the signed attachment.
-6. Upload the PDF to the Jira ticket for the decommission.
-7. Upload the PDF to the github PR for the decommission (in both censusaws and ma5-gov or lab-gov-management-nonprod, as appropriate)
+1. Add AWS the Account ID (10 digits) and Alias Name for both the linked commercial account and the govcloud account to the table located just above the Account Owner signature block. 
+1. Save the PDF as `aws-account-decommission.{label}.pdf` where _{label}_ is the prefix of the account alias without the -ew or -gov.
+1. Send the PDF to the respective POC (Point of Contact) and their Division Chief (DC) with a CC of `csvd.aws@census.gov`.
+1. Ask the POC to read, digitally sign the PDF and reply-all in the email with the signed attachment.  Once the POC has signed, their DC should then sign that.
+1. Upload the PDF to the Jira ticket for the decommission.
+1. Upload the PDF to the github PR for the decommission (in both censusaws and ma5-gov or lab-gov-management-nonprod, as appropriate)
 
 > You can find the account information for all AWS Accounts [here](https://github.e.it.census.gov/terraform/cloud-information/blob/master/aws/info/ACCOUNTS.md).
 
 # CHANGELOG
 
-- 1.0.0 -- 2025-06-18
+- 1.0.0 -- 2025-06-18  
   - initial
-
-- 1.0.1 -- 2025-06-18
+- 1.0.1 -- 2025-06-18  
   - Add Account Agreement and update README.md
-
+- 1.0.2 -- 2025-06-18  
+  - add background and tweak other things