The Secret Service has claimed it may be unable to recover a batch of deleted text messages from phones used by its agents around the time of the Capitol attack last year, a discovery that comes as the agency faces increased criticism over failures in the accounting of its activities during the riots.
The Secret Service notified the House Jan. 6 committee that it was still undertaking a forensic search for the phone records on Tuesday morning, when it handed "thousands of pages of paperwork" and other information linked to Jan. 6 decisions, according to the agency's spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Guglielmi then stated in an interview that the phone records were most likely unrecoverable.
Secret Service Texts on Jan 6 Riot Erased
The committee had subpoenaed the lost text messages and other material from the Secret Service after the inspector general for the service's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, warned it that it will be unable to retrieve some text messages from its agents' phones on January 5 and 6, 2021.
According to the Secret Service, the missing texts were deleted as part of a technological update and had nothing to do with its activities around Jan. 6. Other texts directly linked to the work of its agents during that period, in consonance with to the agency, were backed up and passed over to the inspector general.
The discovery occurred as the National Archives and Records Administration, the organization in charge of preserving all records created by a presidential administration, asked the Secret Service on Tuesday to explain how the text messages were wiped, according to the New York Times.
The agency has come under fire after the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General informed Congress last week that Secret Service texts between Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, were wiped "as part of a device-replacement routine."
The Secret Service has stated that all protocols were followed and has promised full cooperation with the Archives' investigation. The Secret Service was requested by the National Archives, which is in charge of safeguarding government records, to examine the suspected deletion of the texts and report back within 30 days, as per Daily Mail.
As per the letter, if it is determined that any text messages were deleted, the agency must detail what records were affected, a statement explaining why they were deleted, a plan for establishing safeguards to prevent future loss, and "details of all agency actions taken to salvage, retrieve, or reconstruct the records,"
Secret Service Vows "Full Cooperation" in Jan. 6 Investigation
According to a person acquainted with the Secret Service migration process, the agency sent out instructions to staff in December about how to upload digital files on their local devices if they are government documents, that is, material that informs the operation of government.
If the files were particular to this definition, staff were urged to upload them before the migration, and if they did not, the material was likely destroyed when the phones were factory-reset to adopt a new wireless system. People did not physically erase content from their devices; rather, the agency did it remotely.
There was also a second letter concerning keepingf government files in early January, informing staff of the relocation before it began later that month.
The Secret Service, which has received new scrutiny for its actions during the insurgency and then-President Donald Trump's demeanor that day, has consistently stated that it is willing to cooperate with both the inspector general and the Jan. 6 committee, ABC News reported.
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