Pentagon instructs all personnel not to wipe phone data immediately
- Capitol Times
- Aug 5, 2022
- 1 min read
It has been requested that all federal employees, both military and civilian, refrain from deleting data from their phones according to a memo issued by the Pentagon.
An agency must preserve or make appropriate for preservation all records related to the transaction of public business under the Federal Records Act, the memo stated.
“This information provides evidence of government organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other official activities, or is of value to the Department.”
In accordance with the Department of Defense (DoD) Instructions 5015.02 and 8170.01, personnel must retain text messages that are qualified as records as per the Federal Records Act, the Aug. 3 memo issued by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said.
All mobile device service providers in the DoD are now required to capture and save data on “DoD-provisioned mobile devices” once users turn them on. This order is “effective immediately.”
5 August 2022
