Ethics training reminds White House staff not to use encrypted messages for government business; Washington Post, February 5, 2018

Carol D. Leonnig, Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker, Washington Post; Ethics training reminds White House staff not to use encrypted messages for government business

"White House lawyers have been reminding President Trump’s staff not to use encrypted messaging apps for official government business as the administration seeks to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of violating federal records laws.

The warnings were issued during mandatory ethics training sessions held for White House personnel in the past several weeks. During the hour-long briefings, deputy counsel Stefan C. Passantino told staffers to use only White House email for work communications and not any unofficial platforms such as smartphone apps, texts and private emails, according to several people in attendance.

Using such messaging services for official government business could violate the Presidential Records Act, which requires that nearly all official White House correspondence be preserved."