Federal officials must maintain records of the communications until investigations are concluded.
The district judge overseeing the case regarding the case were cabinet officials inadvertently included a journalist in their private Signal thread. The judge order ordered the administration officials to preserve all federal communications made over the messaging app Signal between March 11 and 15.
The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was accidentally added to a group chat on Signal of high-level administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in which they were discussing the timeline of an upcoming U.S. airstrike on the Houthis in Yemen. This led the independent watchdog organization American Oversight to sue, saying that having the chat set to delete all messages after four weeks violates the Federal Records Act, which mandates the preservation of all federal communications.
The district judge announced that the order will be in place for as long as it takes for the lawsuit to be processed. The judge added that this was a “compromise order,” giving the administration time to preserve any Signal messages sent by agencies they could find.
“We are still in the process of working with the agencies to determine what records they have, but we are also working with the agencies to preserve whatever records they have,” Justice Department attorney Amber Richer told the judge.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the federal judges that oversee the proceedings of this case.
- For God to direct officials in the Justice Department as they investigate the issue.
- For all federal officials to remain committed to the complex balance of transparency and security.
Sources: The Hill, Fox News
