Dhs Admits It No Longer Preserves Text Message Data for Top Officials

Yes they are. In fact many states require it for all officials in state or local governments. But unfortunately BOTH parties are against transparency and recordkeeping, since it exposes the ways in which politicians enrich themselves, or how they are controlled by lobbyists or nonprofits, or just lets them get rid of evidence of illegal things.

For example, in Washington state, which is deep blue (the only state to shift left in the 2024 election), the state lawmakers changed the rules so they can delete records after 30 days, effectively preventing any public transparency. In fact, they said anyone who isn’t a “prime sponsor” of a piece of legislation can delete all communications relating to it immediately. They claimed this is to save space (like digital storage space) but clearly that’s not a legitimate reason.

https://youtu.be/Mst1XshEMqM

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-lawmak...

Yes, the US federal government is required to retain all communications. [1] Archive.gov also has a few dozen articles that also get into archiving social media of senior officials among other things.

[1] - https://www.nextgov.com/digital-government/2023/01/new-recor...