Matthew Hardin, a lawyer who focusses on FOIA matters, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation, “This is very illegal.”
He went on to say, “The Federal Records Act has stringent requirements for keeping agency records in the agency’s custody for a variety of reasons,
Including to help the agency comply with the Freedom of Information Act.” This implies that even if someone is mistakenly hiding a federal record on a personal account rather.
Than in official control, they are still establishing a federal record when they do agency business via a “secret” back route or through Gmail.
