DOGE Sued Over Record Keeping Failing to Reply to FOIA Requests

p Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information people and ideas Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information news and insight around the world ppAmericas1 212 318 2000 ppEMEA44 20 7330 7500 ppAsia Pacific65 6212 1000 pp Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information people and ideas Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information news and insight around the world ppAmericas1 212 318 2000 ppEMEA44 20 7330 7500 ppAsia Pacific65 6212 1000 ppThe Department of Government Efficiency and top Trump administration officials are being sued over the agencys alleged violations of federal recordkeeping and transparency laws ppDOGE has made repeated systemic failures to preserve and produce records under the Federal Records Act and Freedom of Information Act the nonprofit American Oversight claims in a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of ColumbiappDOGE allegedly uses platforms that violate its recordkeeping obligationssuch as the opensource Slackalternative Mattermost Google Docs and Signaland lack the safeguards necessary to ensure that public records are not being wrongfully destroyed the nonprofit saysppDrafts of Google Docs arent easily preserved since individuals can simultaneously edit the documents and chats within Google Docs arent saved DOGE also has not established systems within its version of Google Docs to ensure that all federal records are captured and preserved American Oversight alleges ppSignal also automatically deletes messages after a certain period of time and Mattermost messages can be configured to do the same the complaint says ppAmerican Oversight says it sent more than 30 FOIA requests to DOGE since Jan 20 and points to four specific requests for communication records between DOGE officials containing specific words or phrases that the agency hasnt produced The nonprofit alleges its requested records include DOGE communications on Signal Google Docs and Mattermost which have already been removed or destroyed or may soon be ppAmerican Oversight asserts several violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and FOIA The nonprofit also seeks declaratory and injunctive relief requiring DOGE officials to comply with laws governing agency recordkeeping and produce the nonprofits records requests ppThe nonprofit also sued DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget in February for failing to timely produce its FOIA requests of communications between DOGE officials and members of CongressppThe White House and the National Archives and Records Administration which is also named as a defendant in the complaint didnt immediately respond to requests for commentppInhouse counsel represents American OversightppThe case is Am Oversight v US Dept of Govt Efficiency DDC No 125cv01251 complaint filed 42325ppTo contact the reporter on this story Mallory Culhane in Washington at mculhanebloombergindustrycomppTo contact the editor responsible for this story Blair Chavis at bchavisbloombergindustrycompp AIpowered legal analytics workflow tools and premium legal business news pp Log in to keep reading or access research tools p