Fedweek

DoD’s chief information officer has sent out a department-wide memo reinforcing that employees must comply with the Federal Records Act, which limits the use of non-official email accounts to conduct official agency business. That law generally requires agencies to keep and organize electronic messages relevant to agency business as official agency documents, subject to disclosure under the FOIA and for other purposes. A message accompanying the memo says the policies apply to all DoD personnel, including civilian employees, military members and contractors “at every level of each component without exception.” The memo follows congressional inquiries into Secretary Ashton Carter’s use of a personal email account to conduct official business. DoD says that no classified information passed through that account, that all of those messages are being kept in DoD’s computer systems, and that he has stopped using the account.