US EditionDHS ‘erroneously’ told watchdog group it had no Noem text messages
DHS admitted it incorrectly claimed it did not retain Secretary Noem's texts due to cybersecurity-related archiving changes, amid ongoing legal scrutiny of record preservation.
- Earlier this year, DHS admitted it erroneously told American Oversight it no longer retained certain text messages after ending automatic preservation.
- DHS Chief Data Officer Michael Weissman said cybersecurity failures prompted ending TeleMessage in April, forcing manual screenshots and forensic device copying to preserve senior DHS officials' messages.
- A joint status report filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia included Michael Weissman's declaration stating DHS internal review found no evidence of destroyed records and issued a litigation hold covering named custodians.
- The watchdog group added that American Oversight said it remained unconvinced, noting DHS has not produced the requested records and that the admission raises doubts about officials' message preservation.
- On Oct. 20, American Oversight sued, alleging DHS violated the Federal Records Act by not maintaining text messages after April 9, 2025, and urged Secretary Kristi Noem and Marco Rubio, acting Archivist at NARA, to recover records including those involving Philip Hegseth.
6 Articles
6 Articles
'Public deserves to know': Trump admin serves notice to Noem to save her texts for court
Donald Trump's administration has reportedly put Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on notice that she must preserve her text messages as part of a high-profile battle in court.According to Law & Crime, "On Friday, in an 8-page joint status report, DHS and transparency-focused watchdog group American Oversight drew a district judge's attention to a government-issued notice demanding that certain officials 'preserve documents and electronic …
DHS ditched software that archived officials’ electronic messages
The Department of Homeland Security in April disabled third-party software that automatically archived SMS, Signal and WhatsApp messages sent by senior agency officials, according to court filings made public this week, raising questions about DHS compliance with federal recordkeeping laws. The revelation of DHS’s move to ditch the TeleMessage archival tool was revealed in sworn testimony by Michael Weissman, the executive director of the Chief …
DHS Admits It Provided “Erroneous” Information on Texts of Noem and DHS Brass, Hasn’t Confirmed It Followed Law
Thursday, following a court filing in American Oversight’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over the agency’s initial claim that it failed to preserve the text messages of Secretary Kristi Noem and other top agency officials, we revealed the government has admitted its assertion that text messages were no longer preserved was “erroneous” — though the government has yet to provide evidence that the records we requested ha…
DHS Admits Lying About ICE Barbie's Text Messages
The Hill reports: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “erroneously” told a watchdog group that it no longer retains text messages required by law, saying the “misunderstanding” stemmed from the department ending its use of a system that automatically preserved messages. American Oversight said the admission raises questions about whether officials are following their obligation …
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