Full Breakdown
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Use of Auto-Deleting Signal Messages Sparks Record-Keeping Scrutiny
7/15/2026, 4:43:45 AM
Rubio’s Signal Use and Record-Keeping Dispute
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was found to have participated in a Signal group chat that was set to auto-delete messages after a preset interval. The chat, which discussed administration matters and war plans in Yemen, was initially disclosed in a 2025 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the watchdog group Democracy Forward. Rubio’s team told the court that his government phone had been equipped on July 21 2025 with “LeapXpert” software that archives all Signal messages, even those set to disappear. A later declaration on September 9 asserted that Rubio “does not use the auto-deletion functions in third-party messaging applications when sending communications that may include federal records.” However, a source familiar with the exchange said Rubio altered the chat settings about two months later so that messages would delete automatically.
Legal and Policy Background
The State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual explicitly prohibits the use of “ephemeral” or self-destructing message features, requiring such functions to remain disabled to preserve official records. Professor David Baron, former director of litigation at the National Archives, noted that the law does not forbid deletion from a device if an archived copy exists, and that removing redundant records can enhance security. Democracy Forward’s litigation seeks the full Signal logs from the first half of 2025, including a three-person chat with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine, which was set to auto-delete after eight hours.
Official Statements & Agency Responses
State Department senior adviser Susan Weetman reiterated that Rubio “does not use the auto-deletion functions” in official communications. A department official later clarified that LeapXpert “supports compliance even when users adjust application settings, including the Signal app’s ‘disappearing messages’ setting.” In a broader settlement filing on April 30, the department qualified its earlier claim, stating the installed application “collected messages even if those messages otherwise have a deletion timeline setting enabled.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Defense Department similarly reported that senior staff Signal chats were not set for automatic deletion as of early 2025.
Congressional Concern and Criticism
Republican Representative Don Bacon warned that “The Russians and Chinese are definitely monitoring them, and they should act like it every day,” citing a personal Signal hack. Democrat Representative Chrissy Houlahan co-authored a letter to the Pentagon and the Directorate of National Intelligence requesting a briefing on the security of Signal communications, arguing that intercepted unclassified messages could reveal “significant insights” to adversaries.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Secretary Rubio does not use the auto-deletion functions in third-party messaging applications when sending communications that may include federal records.” — Susan Weetman, State Department senior adviser
- “These measures support compliance even when users adjust application settings, including the Signal app’s ‘disappearing messages’ setting,” — Unnamed State Department official
- “It can be said to be good practice to eliminate redundant records in multiple places,” — David Baron, professor, University of Maryland
- “the use of ‘ephemeral’ or self-destructing/disappearing message features with the eMessaging application is strictly prohibited.” — Foreign Affairs Manual, State Department
- “Democracy Forward is looking closely at these latest developments in light of the State Department’s representations in litigation that Secretary Rubio does not use disappearing messages, and we are evaluating next steps,” — Dan McGrath, senior oversight counsel, Democracy Forward
- “The Russians and Chinese are definitely monitoring them, and they should act like it every day,” — Don Bacon, Representative, Nebraska
