A whistleblower in New Mexico’s Child, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) revealed to The Federalist the agency used an encrypted messaging service with automatic deletion around the time of the death of a child whose abuse was brought to state attention.

Cliff W. Gilmore was fired from his role as CYFD’s public information officer in May last year along with his wife, Debra, an agency attorney, when the pair raised concerns about state use of the app, Signal. The firings became a scandal for New Mexico Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose office directed state agencies to use the encrypted messaging service featuring the automatic deletion of records every 10 days or sooner.

The routine deletion of staff communications erases potential for agency oversight under Inspection of Public Records (IPRA) requests. While a ruling from the New Mexico attorney general’s office in September 2020 shared with The Federalist concluded the app’s use did not technically violate the state transparency law, the office warned the government its use deleted records that would otherwise be subject to public review.

The CYFD stopped using Signal following the controversy over the termination of Cliff and Debra Gilmore, but is still using Microsoft Teams, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. The alternative software also houses the capability to automatically delete staff records.

The deployment of encrypted messaging services with routine erasure is likely hampering comprehensive...

Read Full Story: https://thefederalist.com/2022/06/17/fired-whistleblower-confirms-new-mexico-...