Secret Service erased Jan 6th text messages after oversight committee requested they turn them over

All of that. Can confirm.

 

My question was regarding text messages. Most orgs do not have text messages as part of their system and they only live on the individual devices. Not every text will be a public record.
Being USSS is not a normal animal, is this still the case or does the USSSS run everything through encrypted servers?
Did the individual agents reset phones at time of migration or was handled by IT etc.
More unknowns than answers at this point.

 

If laws were broken, prosecute. Heads also need to roll. Does not pass the smell test.

 

I have no idea of how their messaging system works, but if I had to guess, I would say they hosted their own messaging system. I would think it would be similar to having your own email server instead of using a cloud hosted service. If this is the case, there is no way that system doesn't get backed up. It's probably a full server backup, or at a minimum a file level backup that scoops up everything messaging related.

Again, this is just a guess. If this is how it works, then this is just wild. That backup would run at least daily. That copy would be written to two types of media. It would take a bit of effort to get rid of all of this data. And by rid of, I mean really rid of. Not just hitting the Delete button. I would put data recovery skills of the service at top notch. You don't disappear this data without doing a lot of work. There's no way that if they store message that it isn't part of the data retention policies and would imagine the USSS has quite robust back up systems.

I can't imagine that the devices are the only places these messages exist. That's hard to believe, but I could be wrong. I mean, the NSA probably has copies, lol.

 

Well I agree with the last part.

Let the NSA testify and bring receipts!

 

Their explanation does not remotely pass the smell test, there is no enterprise of any decent size that would not back up its messaging system and emails. Particularly the govt where it is required to preserve these records by law.

That we are to believe they just happened to do a “systems migration” after 1/6 and AFTER being instructed to preserve records is so ludicrous, to even offer that has an explanation should in itself be a crime (and it goes without saying should be fireable). Did Clinton’s bleachbit guy get a job w/ secret service?

 

First let me say if they broke the law then they need to be prosecuted to the fullest, it is kind of comical though most that are calling for this were silent in the Hillary email probe. Not about whataboutism, just more of my team good, your team bad stuff. If you don't see the double standard, it is because you don't want to.

 

I've said all along that if the evidence is there to charge hrc, then do it. She's more useful as a bogey man or it would have happened. Now, back to the secret service debacle.....

 

You may be right. It just makes me sick to know that the elite get away with stuff so the other side can keep bogey men, unfortunately happens both sides, while career SS men may get charged and life ruin because they are not connected to the right people.
Break the law, serve your punishment. Fairly simple concept.
This goes for the Jan 6th folks who broke the law as well as the peaceful protestors who broke laws. When we gather around our team and defend their lawlessness, all it does is lead to more lawlessness. It takes courage to stand for your convictions no matter who broke them. I admit that I struggle with it, but I recognize my weakness and I'm trying every day to be better

 

Clinton had a personal server for convenience which was dumb but NOT a crime, AND at the conclusion of her term she went through a process with lawyers to hand over emails as the document retention law requires. Her issue was one of classification. That some classified emails were going through her non-secured server, this was the potential crime if she were intentionally doing this, but I said from the beginning no Secretary of State would be prosecuted for an unintentional administrative violation of mishandling emails or technology. It would take something crazy like what Gen Petreus did (I.e to intentionally take documents and then give them to a mistress who intended to profit off them via a book, and I always thought Petreus got off far too light given the clear criminal intent shown).

In this secret service case they were govt devices on govt servers, and they wiped the entire system. So we have two choices. A) total ineptitude of the secret service IT people B) that it was intentionally done to cover up another crime that may have occurred (such as secret service communicating with Trumps coup leaders).

Clinton’s situation was basically option A. An administrative failing. There was never any intent shown to commit crimes. It remains to be seen what happened here, but evidence of option B is what would separate this from the Clinton situation and make it quite a criminal scandal. Right now it’s just suspicion that it doesn’t pass the smell test, but it shouldn’t been too hard to figure what happened as this is now a criminal probe. I doubt an IT guy is going to fall on his sword if some higher up ordered this data migration or it was done as an intentional cover-up. It’s also possible the missing emails/messages still turn up.

 

Not at all an apples to apples comparison. Clinton emails were deemed innocuous, mundane and without criminal intent. These SS messages need further investigations as there appears to be much more at issue.

 

HRC getting to select what was personal and what was business is the same as SS doing it. Just wrong, and likely illegal if the law was actually enforced. And if you honestly believe that the SOS had no, zero, nada emails that related to national security interests I don't know what to say to you because there is a serious disconnect from the reality of the situation. If you also believe that Obama never sent her an email, and knew the email address wasn't a US gubmnt domain, there is another disconnect. Many people have had their lives turned upside down and served jail time for much less than what she did with her private server. I have a gubmnt email for a board I sit on and everything that goes thru it must be preserved. EVERYTHING, for a local zoning board.

 

the emails that she decided to provide. she didn't hire an outside partisan firm to run bleachbit 20 times to get rid of wedding plans. be honest with yourself.

 

I am not sure anyone at fox knows what a “fact” is.

 

This is really good stuff!!!
First 2 responses to my earlier post.
Not sue she really broke the law, if so, only administrative. We are not comparing apple to apples.
Use any words and thoughts and nuances to defend your team.
I don't mean to offend either one of you but reread your posts. You are doing exactly what I stated was the issue these days. "Defend our team no matter what thinking", does nothing but call for more lawlessness from the opposing team. Really easy concept for a nonintellectual like myself to understand

 

I believe the laws around this have been hardened. I’m not saying it’s good practice to do what Clinton did.

But under the law, she absolutely was only obligated to turn over government related emails and separate out personal emails. I’ve had to do this for work myself, stupidly using a gmail account on my phone, and what I usually do is just forward those chains to my work email to make sure they are “on the record” per the document retention policy. I don’t give them my personal email nor am I obligated to (though I suppose it theoretically could be subject to lawsuit discovery, i was never terribly concerned). Other past Secretaries of State (Powell and Rice) backed Clinton up as having similar practices, but again that was all before the administrative laws/regs around personal devices were supposedly hardened.

I certainly think it should be the policy. The ideal is 100% of official
U.S. govt communications should be on government device and 0% on personal devices, and vice versa. Nothing should be routed through a “personal server” (nor gmail, nor other services). It’s hard to be 100% but it should be the ideal. In the past it was not entirely required, and where you are not 100% the obligation is to fill those gaps and make sure everything is on the record. Even with the laws hardened we know for a fact the last admin was secretly conducting business through WhatsApp and generally ignoring the spirit of almost all these retention laws, and I very much suspect this secret service fiasco will be another case of this.