US defence and intelligence agencies have submitted court documents outlining their efforts to preserve messages from encrypted app Signal, which were allegedly used by officials to co-ordinate a military strike in Yemen in March.
Watchdog group American Oversight, which is suing the US government over its use of the app, claims court filings reveal a “calculated strategy” by Trump administration officials to break transparency laws through the illegal destruction of government records.
It alleges there are “troubling inconsistencies” in US officials’ efforts to archive the messages, with the Central Intelligence Agency claiming it had archived no messages at all.
US officials were said to have used the app for official government business, with some messages set to delete automatically, in violation of the Federal Records Act.
The disclosures have also raised questions about the timing of the preservation efforts and how many of the messages, which covered a five-day period, were ultimately recovered.
