A federal judge ordered key agencies under President Donald Trump’s administration to preserve all messages exchanged via the encrypted app Signal between March 11 and March 15. The directive came after report of senior officials having used the platform to coordinate military operations against Houthi forces in Yemen.
On Thursday, US district judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit filed by American Oversight. The group contended that the use of Signal, which allowed messages to be set for automatic deletion, breaches federal record-keeping laws.
The justice department said that efforts were already in progress to locate and protect relevant communications from this period, CNN reported.
Judge Boasberg, in the 20 minute hearing, also ordered the administration to submit a status report by Monday, including statements from government officials detailing the steps taken to preserve these messages.
The messages in question reportedly contained discussions about US military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The Atlantic reported that just hours before the March 15 strikes, senior members of President Trump’s cabinet shared detailed operational plans in a Signal group chat. The accidental inclusion of a journalist in the chat led to the public exposure of these sensitive communications.
American Oversight, in the wake of these events, initiated legal action, alleging that the Cabinet officials involved violated federal records laws. Sources have indicated that the information shared by US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth within the group chat was classified, a claim the Trump administration has refuted.
The interim executive director of American Oversight, Chioma Chukwu, said, “The public has a right to know how decisions about war and national security are made — and accountability doesn’t disappear just because a message was set to auto-delete.”
Boasberg emphasised the importance of “finding common ground” between the Trump administration and American Oversight to facilitate a mutually agreeable temporary restraining order.
Prior to the hearing, the treasury department reported that it had already retrieved and preserved a “partial” record of the chat for federal documentation purposes. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who participated in the 15 March Signal conversation.
This development has intensified scrutiny over the administration’s communication practices, particularly concerning the handling of sensitive information and adherence to federal record-keeping obligations.
