On April 14, filings from various agencies concerning a lawsuit by American Oversight revealed the absence of the Houthi Signal chat on John Ratcliffe's phone. CIA Chief Data Officer Hurley Blankenship stated that although a screenshot of some chat information was captured, it lacked substantive messages. Following this revelation, American Oversight amended their complaint, alleging further records destruction under the Federal Records Act, stating that vital Signal messages were lost or at risk without proper archiving.
the Director's personal Signal account was reviewed and a screenshot of the Signal Chat at issue was captured from the Director's account on 31 March 2025, and transferred to Agency records systems the same day.
I understand that the screenshot reflects the information available at the time the screenshot was captured, which I characterized as "residual administrative content" in my initial declaration.
Some of Defendants' Signal messages have already been lost or destroyed, see, e.g., Suppl. Blankenship Decl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 15-3, and others will be imminently destroyed in violation of the FRA without further judicial intervention.
Under the FRA, "[n]o records may be 'alienated or destroyed'" without authorization of the Archivist and unless the records "do not have 'sufficient administrative, legal, research, or other value to warrant their continued preservation."
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