The U.S. Secret Service is reportedly considering disabling text messages on agents’ phones as it continues to deal with the fallout of the purging of phone records from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Secret Service Director James Murray on Tuesday informed employees of the plan in a memo on Tuesday, sources told CNN. The agency first will look into how disabling texts could interfere with agents’ work and communication with outside law enforcement. If implemented, the change would be in place until the Secret Service figures out a system to preserve records.
The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, which oversees the Secret Service, has been criticized for failing to alert Congress over missing phone records linked to Jan. 6. The watchdog learned in February that texts, including those exchanged with agents assigned to former President Donald Trump during the insurrection, were missing, but did not notify lawmakers until recently.
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