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.
- On November 6, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged it erroneously told American Oversight it no longer retained certain text messages after ending an automatic preservation system.
- DHS Chief Data Officer Michael Weissman said cybersecurity failures ended TeleMessage use in April, forcing manual screenshots and forensic archiving of senior DHS officials' messages in Shared Drive work folders.
- A joint status report filed Wednesday included Michael Weissman's sworn declaration stating DHS internal review found no evidence that federal records were destroyed, and a litigation hold covering named custodians is in place.
- American Oversight said it remains unconvinced after DHS admitted it provided inaccurate information about whether Secretary Kristi Noem's and other officials' text messages were properly preserved and has not produced requested public records.
- On Oct. 20, American Oversight sued, alleging DHS violated the Federal Records Act by not maintaining text message data after April 9, 2025, and urged Secretary Kristi Noem and Marco Rubio to recover records involving National Guard deployments and Philip Hegseth.
4 Articles
4 Articles
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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