FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: House Oversight investigating use of unofficial communications

Allan BlutsteinComment

House Committee Wants to Know if Federal Employees Are Skirting FOIA Laws

By Ian Smith, FedSmith, Mar. 9, 2017

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent letters to 55 different federal agencies this week seeking information on federal employees’ use of unofficial government communication methods.

The Committee has become concerned about recent reports that federal workers are using alternate means of communication such as personal email accounts or encrypted messaging applications. The letter notes that if this is done, such as with using a personal email account, the Federal Records Act requires that the employee copy the message to his or her official account within 20 days to preserve the official government record.

Read more here.