Homeland Security Dept. Says It Hasn't Kept Text Message Data Since April

Source: NYT

'The Department of Homeland Security rebuffed a request for public records related to the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles this summer, saying that the agency had not maintained text message data among top officials since early April, according to its communications with a nonprofit watchdog group.

... The Homeland Security Department has previously come under scrutiny for failing to preserve public records. After Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol in 2021, text messages sent and received by Secret Service agents around the time of the attack were erased, even after an inspector general had requested them as part of his inquiry into the events of Jan. 6.

.... But Ms. Weismann said she was concerned that the current administration was unlikely to hold accountable any federal agencies for violations of federal public records laws.

Any Justice Department investigation into potential violations of the Federal Records Act could happen only after the head of the National Archives made referral to the U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, she noted. The current acting archivist is Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Trump fired the nation’s archivist, Colleen Shogan, less than a month into his second term."



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/us/politics/homeland-security-foia-text-messages.html