The Secret Service came under fire after the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general told Congress last month that the agency had deleted text messages from the time period around Jan. 6 that Congress had requested. While the agency said it has cooperated with the inspector general — and that the messages were lost as a result of a planned January 2021 phone data transfer — the memo is the latest indication that the Secret Service sees a need to change its data practices via the reaction to the January 6 messages. One of the sources said Secret Service leadership has made it clear that it will not end the use of text messaging without first understanding what kind of impact it might have on the performance of Secret Service agents. Agency employees, for example, text with local police officers, one source said, and the agency would not want to lose that channel of communication. There is concern, the source said, that completely disabling the agency’s texting capabilities could harm the Secret Service’s protection capabilities. Politico first reported that the agency was considering suspending the use of texts. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Secret Service declined to comment. The Secret Service and DHS — as well as the Defense Department — faced questions about the missing messages around Jan. 6 as Congress, government watchdogs and the National Archives demanded answers about how the messages were deleted. The DHS inspector general told the Secret Service last month his office was conducting a criminal investigation into possible deleted text messages. The Secret Service memo says the agency has a four-point plan to prevent data loss and meet record-keeping obligations, according to a source. The memo says there were regulatory and security reasons why the service’s text messages were not backed up to a server, but it said significant efforts are being made to bridge the gap between technological capability and record-keeping requirements.
The intelligence chief and the Secret Service’s executive resources board plan to evaluate the benefits and implications of temporarily suspending the use of text messages until a technological solution is identified, the memo said. The effort is also intended to serve as a road map for the next director of the Secret Service, as Murray had planned to retire before saying he would remain in his post until a new director is appointed.