The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) should take immediate action to ensure agency officials and heads at the State, Defense and Treasury Departments, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, immediately stop using Signal or personal devices for government business and stop destroying records using Signal’s auto-delete function unless these records are properly preserved. CREW sent a letter to the relevant agencies, inspectors general and NARA, requesting that NARA investigate and take appropriate action to ensure compliance with records laws and confirm those actions in writing by April 4, 2025.

On March 24, 2025, The Atlantic magazine reported that its editor-in-chief was included on a Signal chat with agency heads and other high-level officials, reportedly including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, discussing “the war plan” for “bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.” Among other messages, Hegseth reportedly sent a message including operational details of forthcoming strikes in Yemen, which was followed by public reporting two hours later of explosions being heard in Yemen. 

The Federal Records Act requires agencies to “make and preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions,” strictly limits the destruction of those records and imposes penalties for violations of the law that include fines and imprisonment.

The potential use of personal devices and reported auto-deletion of Signal messages raise serious questions about these officials’ compliance with the law.  Public reporting indicates Signal cannot be downloaded onto official federal devices in most cases, and some of the officials in the chat may have been using their personal devices. In addition, some of the messages in the Signal group were reportedly set to disappear after one week, while others were set to disappear after four weeks. It does not appear that any of the officials communicating via this Signal chat copied or forwarded messages to an official account to preserve the records as required by law.

Concerns surrounding government officials’ use of Signal are not new. After the January 6th insurrection, CREW revealed that then-senior Homeland Security officials Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli could not provide texts from the days surrounding the January 6th insurrection because they communicated over Signal. In the first Trump administration, CREW raised the alarm after reports that then-White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner routinely used non-secure, non-official messaging applications, including Signal, to communicate with foreign leaders and his coronavirus task force.  

If government officials fail to preserve records as required by law, they make it impossible for oversight entities, Congress and the public to understand what their government is doing and pursue accountability if needed. NARA must ensure that administration officials’ communications are preserved in accordance with the law.

Read the letter here.

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