National Archives to US Secret Service: you have 30 days (updated with contract award info) I like hunting for receipts
“has been fully cooperating with the DHS OIG…in every respect – whether it be interviews, documents, emails, or texts” —will you say that under oath because lying to Congress is a crime.
Editorial Note, an update to this article can be found at the bottom of this article, the original article continues below.
I did tell you that my work week is hell on fire busy. Which would mean that publishing on a daily basis this week, isn’t exactly doable. However my time management skills availed me a few extra hours of free time. So let’s get into the recent updates and escalation. (See recent Washington Post article)
When a federal agency is under the spotlight, commonsense means you better be truthful and forthrightly otherwise you only make the scandal worse. That’s crisis management 101 and who’s ever giving the USSS advice, they are not doing you any service. This scandal is of the USSS own making. Being overly defensive and doubling down on subterfuge (like your July 14th statement) you must think members of Congress lack both the intellect and intelligence to see your statement is argued on the margins and semantics do not go over well with adept individuals who are the over-thinkers of overthinkers.
The insinuation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages following a request is false.
The USSS position and explanation seems seems to strains credulity. Meaning the US Secret Service (USSS) failed to: 1) back up mobile phones in advance of the migration roll out of “newer” phones, 2) that the USSS wouldn’t have taken into account their long and documented history regarding the preservation of aforesaid data, 3) that an enterprise wipe and load is in compliance with the multiple federal CFRs, Statues and specifically federal laws on proper record management and retention. You can read more here, and a partial list of scandals that plagued the current director, here.
In a rather terse July 19, 2022 letter the National Archives put the US Secret Service on notice. The letter reads in part (pay close attention to the bolded text:
In accordance with 36 CFR 1230.16(b), NARA requests that the Secret Service look into this matter. If it is determined that any text messages have been improperly deleted (regardless of their relevance to the OIG/Congressional inquiry of the events on January 6, 2021), then the Secret Service must send NARA a report within 30 calendar days of the date of this letter with a report documenting the deletion. This report must include a complete description of the records affected, a statement of the exact circumstances surrounding the deletion of messages, a statement of the safeguards established to prevent further loss of documentation, and details of all agency actions taken to salvage, retrieve, or reconstruct the records. (emphasis added)
https://www.archives.gov/about/laws/fed-agencies.html ← you should bookmark that link because this article largely relies upon it… With respect to the various CFRs and Statues, see below (if you’re so inclined you can read the July 14, 2022 article found here —the ever evolving USSS position, well I can’t be the only one who’s thinking: “you explanation does not, even remotely pass the sniff test. Over 3 decades in Washington DC and let me tell you the DC machine is known for the document machine, that there are always back ups to the back ups.
In the USSS July 14, 2022 statement, your agency references “in January 2021 before any OIG investigation/inspection was opened —is it your testimony that the January 2021 “freeze/preservation order” from various Congressional Committees that the USSS has in fact turned over any and all records requested by Congress?
Has the USSS turned over all, and I mean all records to the National Archives?
In 2010 pursuant to the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division Modernization Act of 2010, specifically Sec4 which obligates records and data preservation be in accordance with current Federal Records laws, is it your contention that the deletion was in compliance to the Agency’s record retention policy?
Are the USSS records (storage, electronic servers etc) bifurcated from the DHS data infrastructure enterprise?
If so, please state the Agency policy regarding compliance with current Federal Records (Presidential Records Act) etc
Where in the current statute does it provide any allowances tp not sending ALL records (PRA) to the National Archives?
How did the USSS make the determination that those text messages were not relevant to the ongoing Congressional and Criminal Investigations?
Who made the decision to violate current Federal Laws as it relates to Presidential Records and more broadly the DHS’ own internal record retention policy?
How and who made the determination made that the erased records “were not pertinent to the (many) ongoing investigations?
We determined that the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) did not have adequate protections in place on systems to which Master Central Index (MCI) information was migrated. These problems occurred because USSS has not consistently made IT management a priority. The USSS Chief Information Officer (CIO) lacked authority for all IT resources and was not effectively positioned to provide necessary oversight, inadequate attention was given to updating USSS IT policies, and high turnover and vacancies within the Office of the CIO meant a lack of leadership to ensure IT systems were properly managed. In addition, USSS personnel were not adequately trained to successfully perform their duties. We made 10 recommendations to USSS and 1 recommendation to the DHS Privacy Office to reduce the risk of future unauthorized access and disclosure of sensitive information. The USSS and the DHS Privacy Officer concurred with these recommendations.
Of the ten recommendations the DHS-OIG made, as the USSS implemented all of the recommendations? (Whispers that’s a trick question because some of the recommendations are continual)
The deficiencies collectively limited USSS’ ability to ensure that critical financial and operational data were maintained in such a manner as to ensure their confidentiality, integrity, and availability. We recommend that USSS, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security’s Chief Information Officer and Acting Chief Financial Officer, make improvements to USSS’ financial management systems and associated information.
Did the USSS accept the recommendation?
And if so, then how was the determination made to delete those records, given the operational guidelines and federal laws regarding electronic communications? (Whispers this is also a trick question)
§ 3101. Records management by agency heads; general duties:
The head of each Federal agency shall make and preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency and designed to furnish the information necessary to protect the legal and financial rights of the Government and of persons directly affected by the agency’s activities.
Again at this point the USSS deserves a public shellacking or at a minimum, bring the director in (under oath) and let him testify to why the Agency made the determination that the text were irrelevant and why this agency violated numerous federal laws concerning record retention. The point is the USSS has broken the trust of the American people; and clearly the HSCJ6 Committee doesn’t trust the USSS hence the subpoena. In the end the optics of this sandal doesn’t look good for the USSS…
…again this week is going to be insanely busy for me. Which means I may or may not be publishing daily but I had about 90 minutes in between meetings. Have you ever tried to rationalize a group of attorneys that they shouldn’t stress out about the research, that blowing up my cellphone every five minutes isn’t exactly a conducive work environment because I hate having to repeat myself.
…if I have free time later this week, I’ll do my level best to publish but the reality is I’m laser focused on my J-O-B and the current project from my deceased boss. I can’t let him down because I swear he’s looking down on me and saying “kid you fuck this up and I’m going to fire you” the running joke is it wasn’t a productive week unless he threatened to fire me at least three times. For now I have to make my way down from the hotel-room to a nearby steakhouse for our 5PM happy hour (because why YES that’s exactly what I want to do, that being grabbing drinks with attorneys) said no sane person ever (snort)
Update July 18, 2022 10:03PM DC local time
I did a bit more thinking about this —my specific questions related to the USSS servers if they are not on the DHS Infrastructure Enterprise Network here’s what Congress should do, forthwith:
request confirmation of the individual telephone #s, IEMI numbers
immediately send a subpoena to the wireless providers (remember Congress put all the wireless providers on notice in their preservation letters in Jan 2021)
records especially government records don’t just get deleted.
threaten potential violations (to the wireless providers) of the Storage Communications Act
And then wait and see what the USSS has to say. Because the optics look terrible.
One other fact/point that’s overlooked those text communications are not asymmetric meaning if possible, the HSCJ6 might be able to determine who (non USSS employees) sent/received SMS and/or iMessages <— doing that would require a data forensic expert and it could be time consuming.
But the point is, there are several CFRs and Laws and if the USSS blindingly did a wipe and reload <—well duh there’s a backup somewhere, on a AWS or wireless carriers:
And lastly (I think this is important but a lot of folks are overlooking this) in the USSS July 14, 2022 statement, which reads in part:
First, in January 2021, before any inspection was opened by OIG on this subject, the Secret Service began to reset its mobile phones to factory settings as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration. In that process, data resident on some phones was lost.
DHS OIG requested electronic communications for the first time on Feb. 26, 2021, after the migration was well under way. The Secret Service notified DHS OIG of the loss of certain phones’ data, but confirmed to OIG that none of the texts it was seeking had been lost in the migration.
Again it strains credulity that a large Government agency would (carelessly and irresponsibly) deleted text messages during a mobile device upgrade roll out. If you think I’m off the mark allow me to introduce to you a few Federal Contract Awards, specifically for the USSS: 70US0919F2GSA0044
…..because by now I would think my readers would have already anticipated that I didn’t pull those previous questions out of thin air, see FPDS Link to aforementioned contract award to AT&T from the USSS using the GSA contract vehicle. And yes that AT&T contract award is for wireline services.
…but what you probably did not know is the USSS contracts with CELLCO PARTNERSHIP dba/ Verizon Wireless see Contract Award: 70US0922F2GSA0010 Again there’s nothing magical about my research, you simply need to know what, and where to look for the data. See the FPDS database, it’s an old school DC procurement database and I don’t care if SAMs “is better” —whispers SAMS is a clunky mind numbing database that I loathe. Whereas the FPDS is far more user friendly.
I’m still on the hunt for the Q42020 & Q1 2021 contract award I’m pretty sure the Mobile Device upgrade was a contract mod to a previous cellular contract awarded many and I mean many years ago —did you really think I’d leave you hanging (snort) — after all this time, come on I’m not that type that would intentionally leave you hanging for sport, so I’ll put you out of your misery -the contract for the relevant time periods, click here
GS35F0119P ←that’s the original (like 2009) contract but I did managed to locate the contract that covers the Jan-thru March 2021 Phone upgrade/migration HSSS0117F0038 - I now refer you to pages 1, 5 and 7 respectively:
Fine here’s the original contract (which was a GWAC via GSA) GS35F0119P -see pages 11-19, 22, 25 and 28 thru 33.
However I’m running out of steam because I need to be up by 6AM so I can calm down a cadre of attorneys who are second guessing everything. Apparently part of my job is soothing grown men, who decide on the night before the hearing to go all “are you sure” and my laser eyes quickly knocked their malarkey down.
IMPORTANTLY;
Every wireless carrier providing products and services to the Federal Government, has a cloud based FedRamp Certified data storage facilities (aka data centers) which is a mandatory requirement to provide any data-related services to the Federal Government. Moreover notice the dates the USSS proffered in their July 14th statement January, February and March of 2021 that’s important because the USSS Mobile Device upgrade took place under two administrations. With the most critical time occurring during the last days of Trump’s presidency and why I thought it was important to previously highlight the USSS agency Re-alignment from US Treasury to DHS ←because we all know that the Trump sycophants were in DHS…
I should probably disclose that I had one (albeit tiny) glass of 18 year old Macallan’s with my steak dinner, since my employer paid for it and a single malt goes really well with a dry aged Wagyu steak. But I figured I had a few hours to burn in my hotel room (because I didn’t want to smoke cigars with my many bosses), so I decided to track down some actual receipts… thank you, I’ll show myself out.
This entire situation is so insane, it can’t be ignored. Clearly it was done purposefully and heads should fucking role! If these guys don’t tell the truth, they should be tried and dumped per the norm. Just my little input 🤣 Have a glass of wine on me, Spicy! I think I may go pore myself a glass too! 😘
This is so helpful, Filey! TY - as always! I was MYSTIFIED about records not being backed-up... smacked of the 'missing minutes' in Watergate tapes!! Hope you're having a bit of saltwater therapy to end your busy day...💛
This entire situation is so insane, it can’t be ignored. Clearly it was done purposefully and heads should fucking role! If these guys don’t tell the truth, they should be tried and dumped per the norm. Just my little input 🤣 Have a glass of wine on me, Spicy! I think I may go pore myself a glass too! 😘
This is so helpful, Filey! TY - as always! I was MYSTIFIED about records not being backed-up... smacked of the 'missing minutes' in Watergate tapes!! Hope you're having a bit of saltwater therapy to end your busy day...💛