REDACTED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

Office of the Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice
OVERSIGHT ★ INTEGRITY ★ GUIDANCE

Report of Investigation:
Recovery of Text Messages From
Certain FBI Mobile Devices
REDACTED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Redactions were made to the full version of this report to protect individual privacy
and information identified by the FBI as law enforcement sensitive.

Investigations Division 2018-003523

REDACTED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

December 2018

 REDACTED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Redactions were made to the full version of this report to protect individual privacy
and information identified by the FBI as law enforcement sensitive.

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of the Inspector General

REPORT OF INVESTIGATION

SUBJECT

CASENUl'tlBER

UNSPECIFIED

2018-003523

OFFICE CONDUCTINGINVESTIGATION

DOJ COMPONENT

Cyber Investigations Office

Federal Bureau of Investigation

DISTRIBUTION

STA"111S

181

Fitld Office

C\'BER

□

QJl

AIGJNV

IIQ

PREVIOUS REPORT SUBMITrED:

181

Compo11cnt

1-'Bl

D

USA

D

Other

OPEN

D

OPEN PENDING PROSECUTIO~

□

\ 'ES

~

CLOSED
NO

Date or Previous Report:

SYNOPSIS
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this investigation upon
being notified of a gap in text message data collection during the period December 15, 2016, through May
17, 2017, from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) mobile devices assigned to FBI employees Peter
Strzok and Lisa Page relevant to a matter being investigated by the OIG's Oversight and Review Division.
Specifically, the OIG's Cyber Investigations Office (CYB ER) was asked to attempt recovery of these
missing text messages for the referenced period from FBI issued mobile devices issued to Strzok and Page.
The OIG asked the FBI Inspection Division to locate the FBI issued Samsung Galaxy S5 devices formerly
assigned to the subject employees and to obtain from the same individuals their assigned FBI issued
Samsung Galaxy S7 devices. The FBI provided these four devices to the OIG in late January 2018.
CYBER utilized digital forensic tools to obtain data extractions from the four FBI issued mobile devices.
To ensure the thoroughness of text message recovery efforts, OIG also consulted with the Department of
Defense, conducted additional quality assurance steps and hired a Subject Matter Expert. The result of these
steps was the recovery of thousands of text messages within the period of the missing text messages,
December 15, 2016 through May 17, 2017, as well as hundreds of other text messages outside the gap lime
period that had not been produced by the FBI due to technical problems with its text message collection
tool.

In view of the content of many of the text messages between Strzok and Page, the OIG also asked the
Special Counsel's Office (SCO) to provide to the OIG the DOJ issued iPhones that had been assigned to
Strzok and Page during their respective assignments to the SCO. Stnok and Page had each returned their
DATE

December 1I, 2018

SIGNATURE

PREPARED D\' SPECIAL AGENT
SIGNATURE
-DATE
- - - - -December
-----'1
-I,-20)8
--.__
_____________
APPROVED 8\' SPECIAL AG~. IN CHARGE

Keith A. Bonanno

1:/·,

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OIG Form 111-210/1 r.>Uf'<1•·•~dmK 0/G form Ill-JI/" -I) (114 23 }11117)
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::-.:."::.".-.:=".::...--.--

- ~ . . . __ _ _ _ _ __

=.::::::.:-::_

 REDACTED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Redactions were made to the full version of this report to protect individual privacy
and information identified by the FBI as law enforcement sensitive.

DOJ-issued iPhones six months earlier when their assignments to the SCO had ended. The 010 was told
that the DOJ issued iPhone previously assigned to Strzok had been re-issued to another FBI agent following
Strzok's departure from the SCO. The SCO obtained the iPhone from that individual and provided it to the
010. CYB ER obtained a forensic extraction of the iPhone previously assigned to Strzok; however. this
iPhone had been reset to factory settings and was reconfigured for the new user to whom the device was
issued. It did not contain data related to Strzok's use of the device. SCO's Records Officer told the 010
that as part of the office's records retention procedure, the officer reviewed Strzok's DOJ issued iPhone
after he returned it to the SCO and determined it contained no substantive text messages.
The SCO was unable to locate the iPhone previously assigned to Page, which had been returned to DOJ's
Justice Management Division (JMD). Subsequently, in early September 2018, JMD informed the OIG that it
had located the iPhone that had been assigned to Page. The OIG took custody of the device. Page's iPhone had
been reset to factory settings on July 31, 2017, but had not been reissued to a new user. (The Office of the
Deputy Attorney General told the OJG that the Department routinely resets mobile devices to factory settings
when the device is returned from a user to enable that device to be issued to another user in the future.) The
OJG forensic review of the phone determined that it did not contain any data related to Page's use of the device.
SCO's Records Otlicer stated that she did not receive the phone following Page's departure from the $CO and
therefore she did not review Page's iPhone for records that would possibly need to be retained prior to the
phone having been reset. As noted on page 395 of the OIG's June 2018 report entitled, "A Review of Various

Actions by the Fedel'a! Bureau of Investigation and Department ofJustice in Advance ofthe 2016 Election,"
https://www.iustice.gov/file/l07199J /download, the Department, unlike the FBI, does not have an automated
system that seeks to retain text messages, and the service provider only retains such messages for 5 to 7 days.
During calendar year 2017, the FBI phased out use of the Samsung Gala.xy S5 devices by its employees and
replaced them with Samsung Oala'Cy S7 devices because of software and other issues that prevented the data
collection tool from reliably capturing text messages sent and received via FBI issued Samsung Galaxy SS
mobile devices. According to FBl's Information and Technology Branch, as of November 15, 2018, the
data collection tool utilized by FBI was still not reliably collecting text messages from approximately IO
percent of FBI issued mobile devices, which included Samsung S7s and subsequently issued S9s. By
comparison, the estimated failure rate of the collection tool was 20 percent for the Samsung S5s.
The 010 reviewed DOJ memoranda and FBI policy relating to retention of substantive electronic
communications. These policies require individual employees to take steps to ensure preservation of such
electronic communications relating to a criminal or civil investigation. The FBI policy informs its
employees to contact the FBl's Enterprise Security Operations Center (ESOC) if they need to access
electronic communications that the individual has not preserved, such as text messages and email messages.
According to FB('s Office of General Counsel, ESOC has in place a process for the collection of text
messages. However, the OIG determined that the FBI does not currently have a specific policy directive
mandating that FBI, through ESOC or otherwise, collect text messages sent and received by FBI employees
using their FBI issued mobile devices.
Upon reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI requested the opportunity to respond to it. The FBl's response is
attached as Appendix I .
Separate from this report, the 010 will be submitting procedural reform recommendations to the FBI
relating to retention of electronic communications.

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and information identified by the FBI as law enforcement sensitive.

DETAILS OF THE INVESTIGATION
Predication
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this investigation upon
being notified of a gap in text message data collection for the period December 15, 2016, through
May 17, 2017, from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) mobile devices assigned to FBI employees Peter
Strzok and Lisa Page related to a matter being investigated by the OIG's Oversight and Review Division.
Specifically, the O(G's Cyber Investigations Office (CYBER) was asked to attempt recovery of the missing
text messages for the referenced period from FBl issued mobile devices used by Strzok and Page.
In view of the content of many of the text messages between Strzok and Page, the OJG also asked the
Special Counsel's Office (SCO) to provide to the OIG the DOJ issued iPhones that had been assigned to
Strzok and Page during their respective assignments to the SCO.

Investigative Process
The OIG's investigative efforts consisted of the following:
Interviews of the following personnel:

•

Special Counsel's Office (SCO) Executive Officer
CO Records Officer
, SCO Administrative Officer
I Supervisory Special Agent
, Justice Management Division (JMD) Supervisory Information Technology (IT)

•
•
•
•

•

JMD IT Specialist
JMD IT Specialist
JMD Director

•

•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•

Review of the following:
•
•
•
•

DOJ JMD policy documentation regarding electronic messaging record retention
DOJ Deputy Attorney General Memorandum dated March 30, 20 I I regarding Guidance on the Use,
Preservation, and Disclosure of Electronic Communications in Federal Criminal Cases
FBI policy documentation regarding the preservation of electronic communications
SCO Email for Strzok and Page

Digital Forensic Examination of the following:
•

FBI Samsung SS mobile device previously assigned to Strzok

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and information identified by the FBI as law enforcement sensitive.

•
•
•
•
•

FBI Samsung S5 mobile device previously assigned to Page
FBI Samsung S7 mobile device assigned to Strzok
FBI Samsung S7 mobile device assigned to Page
SCO iPhone mobile device previously assigned to Strzok
SCO iPhone mobile device previously assigned to Page

Additional steps taken to ensure the most complete forensic extraction results:
•
•
•

Consulted with Department of Defense Computer Forensic Laboratory and utilized a specific tool they
recommended
Conducted additional quality assurance steps regarding a specific database containing repository of text
messages
Hired an Android Subject Matter Expert

Background
On January 12, 2017, the OIG announced the initiation of a review to examine, among other things,
"whether the Department and the FBI followed policies or procedures in connection with, or in actions
leading up to or related to, the FBI Director's public announcement on July 5, 2016, and the Director's
letters to Congress on October 28 and November 6, 2016, and whether certain underlying investigative
decisions were based on improper considerations." A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of

Investigation and Depar/ment ofJustice in Advance of!he 2016 Eleclion,
https://www.justice.gov/ftle/l 071991 /download (pre-election review).
As part of the pre-election review, the OIG requested that FBI produce text messages from FBI issued mobile
devices assigned to certain FBI employees, including Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The initial OIG request asked
that FBI provide text messages containing specific keywords. Subsequent OJG requests sought all text
messages for Strzok and Page for the entire period of the Clinton e-mail server investigation as well as the
period of the Russia investigation during which Strzok and Page worked on it. OIG received text message
productions from the FBI; however, we noted that no text messages were provided for Page during the period
December 15, 2016 to May t 7, 2017, and no text messages were provided for Stnok during the period June 18,
2016 through July 5, 2017. Thus, for the period from December 15, 2016, to May 17, 2017, we received no text
messages between Page and Strzok, and for the period from June 18, 2016, to December 14, 2016, and from
May 18, 2017, to July 5, 2017, the Page-Strzok text messages that we received came solely from Page's text
archives.
Strzok was assigned to the FBl's investigation of Hillary Clinton's use ofa private email server from August
2015 until July 2016. Page was FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's Special Counsel during the relevant
period of the OIG's review and provided support lo the investigation from early February 2016 until July 20 I 6.
The investigation was resumed by FBI on or about October 28, 2016, and both Strzok and Page were involved
in the investigation until it was concluded on or about November 6, 2016. Beginning in July 2016, Strzok was
also assigned to investigate allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Page was
involved in that investigation as well based on her position as McCabe's Special Counsel.
On May 17, 2017, the Special Counsel's Office (SCO) was established to investigate alleged Russian
interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Strzok and Page were assigned to the SCO shortly thereafter
(Strzok in early June; Page on May 28) and were provided DOJ JMD iPhones during their SCO assignment.
Based on OIG's examination of their FBI mobile devices, Page and Strzok also retained and continued to use
their FBI mobile devices. Specifically, on or about May 18, 2017, Page received an FBI-issued Samsung
Galaxy S7 mobile device to replace her previously-issued FBI Samsung Galaxy SS . On or about July 5, 2017,
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Strzok received an FBl•issued Samsung Galaxy S7 mobile device to replace his previously-issued FBI Samsung
Galaxy S5. Page left the SCO on July 15, 2017. According to SCO, Strzok was removed from the SCO
investigation in late July 2017. He completed his Exit Clearance Certification on August I I, 2017 and returned
his DOJ issued iPhone on or about that date.
A letter from DOJ Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd to Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Senate
Judiciary Committee, dated January 19, 2018, stated that the FBl's technical system for retaining text messages
sent and received on FBI mobile devices failed to preserve text messages for Strzok and Page from December
14, 2016 to approximately May 17, 2017. The letter indicates that the collection tool failure was due to
•'misconfiguration issues related to rollouts, provisioning, and software upgrades that conflicted with the FBl's
collection capabilities."

DOJ Policy and Guidance regarding Electronic Messaging Records Retention
The OIG reviewed DOJ Policy Statement 0801.04, approved September 21, 2016, which establishes DOJ
retention policy for email and other types of electronic messaging, to include text messages.
Policy 0801.04 states that electronic messages related to criminal or civil investigations sent or received by DOJ
employees engaged in those investigations must be retained in accordance with the retention requirements
applicable to the investigation and component specific policies on retention of those messages.
OIG also reviewed DOJ Instruction 0801.04.02, approved November 22, 2016, which provides guidance and
best practices on component use of electronic messaging tools and applications for component business
purposes.
Section C of 0801.04.02 (Recordkeeping Guidance for Electronic Messaging Tools in Use in the DOJ)
subsection 9 (Text Messaging), states that text messaging may be used by staff only if it has been approved by
the Head of the Component and in the manner specifically permitted by written component policies. Additional
guidance was provided in a memo from the Deputy Attorney General dated March 30, 20 I I, titled 'Guidance
on the Use, Preservation, and Disclosure of Electronic Communications in Federal Criminal Cases.' The memo
states that electronic communications should be preserved if they are deemed substantive. Substantive
communications include:
•
•
•
•
•

Factual information about investigative activity
Factual information obtained during interviews or interactions with witnesses (including victims),
potential witnesses, experts, informants, or cooperators
Factual discussions related to the merits of evidence
Factual infonnation or opinions relating to the credibility or bias of witnesses, informants and potential
witnesses; and
Other factual information that is potentially discoverable under Brady, Giglio, Rule 16 or Rule 26.2
(Jencks Act).

FBI Policy regarding the Collection and Retention of Text Messages
The FBl's Office of General Counsel (OGC) provided FBI Policy Directive 0423D, titled 'Preservation and
Disclosure of Electronic Communications in Criminal Cases,' with a last renewal date of October 12, 2016.
This policy implements DOJ's Guidance on the Use, Preservation, and Disclosure of Electronic
Communications in Federal Criminal Cases as set forth by the Deputy Attorney General on March 30, 2011.
The FBI Policy Directive refers to the preservation ofelectronic communications in federal criminal cases,
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defines what 'substantive' communications are and establishes how these should be preserved by employees.
The Directive defines substantive communications as:

I 5.3. Substantive communication: Factual infonnation about investigative activity; factual infonnation obtained
during interviews or interactions with witnesses (including victims), potential witnesses, experts, informants, or
cooperators; discussions related to the merits of evidence; and information or opinions relating to the credibility
or bias or [sic] witnesses, informants and potential witnesses. Substantive communications may also include
agent reports (whether to a colleague, supervisor or prosecutor) about investigative activity, communications
that relate to the merits or relative merits of particular evidence, characterizations of potential testimony,
interactions with witnesses/victims, and discussions regarding other witness' credibility. Finally, any witness' email, including that of an agent, may constitute impeachment material, Brady material or 3500 material.
Section 8.5.5 of this Policy Directive states that "if employees need to access e-communications that, for
whatever reason, have not been preserved, they should address requests to retrieve text messages, PINs, UNet
and FBtNet e-mails to the Security Division's Enterprise Security Operations Center (ESOC)."
Section 8.6. states, "Employees must not use personal email, personal electronic devices, or social networking
sites to communicate about cases or to post case-related or sensitive material. The use of a personal electronic
device to send or receive FBI-related e-mail and text messages may subject that personal device and any
associated personal e-mail account or personal social networking account to discovery (either directly or via
third party subpoena). Apply the 'need to know' principle in determining proper recipients."
Section 11.1.5 states that all employees, "Must not use personal e-mail, personal electronic devices, or social
networking sites to communicate about cases or to post case-related or sensitive material."

FBI Assistant General Counsel
informed OIG that there does not appear to be a directive for
preservation of texts by ESOC, but that ESOC retains text messages as a maner of practice. The OIG noted that
FBI Policy Directive 0423D infonns its employees to contact ESOC if they need to access electronic
communications that the individual has not preserved, such as text messages and e-mail messages, thus
identifying ESOC as the repository for these types of communications.

FBI ESOC Process for Collection and Retention of Text Messages
ESOC Information Technology Specialistsan~
informed OIG that FBI uses an
automated application to wirelessly collect text messages sent to or from FBI-issued mobile devices. The
a lication collects text messa e content and other data re ardin mobile device usage
Although ESOC could not provide a specific explanation for the failure in the FBl's text message collection
relating to Strzok's and Page's S5 phones without testing the devices and analyzing the OIG's forensic
extractions
tool failure:
•

•
•

and

told the OIG that any one of the following factors could have caused the collection

In calendar year 2016 the collection application vendor reported a "bug" in a version of the collection
This
tool which caused the application to stop collecting text message or log dataapplication version was replaced by a newer version that corrected the issue in March 20 I 7.
Errors during the initial installation of the collection application, such as misconfiguration during setup.
Errors in the collection application' s ability to send text message data caused by sofhvare updates or
operating system updates on the mobile device itself.

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•

Hardware errors, such as the device not being powered on, being located in a poor cellular signal area,
or being located in an area with no cellular service.

According toand.
during calendar year 2017, the FBJ phased out the Samsung Gala.xy SS devices
and replaced ~
ith Samsung Galaxy S7 devices in an effort to correct software and other issues that
prevented the data collection tool utilized by ESOC from capturing text messages sent and received via FBI
issued Samsung Galaxy S5 mobile devices. Notvvithstanding replacement of the Samsung Galaxy S5 devices to
address the issue with collection tool failure, according to FBJ's lnfonnation and Technology Branch, as of
November 15, 2018, the data collection tool utilized by FBI was still not reliably collecting text messages from
approximately IO percent of FBI issued mobile devices, which included Samsung S7s and subsequently issued
S9s. By comparison, the estimated failure rate of the collection tool was 20 percent with the Samsung S5s ..
Weekly reports are generated by FBI 's Mobility Program Office (MPO) and shared with FBI Field Offices and
Headquarters Division mobile devi~
tact to facilitate necessary troubleshooting. According to
FBI Inspection Division Unit Chie~
their security team and MPO are actively exploring
solutions and proactively working to address the non-compliant devices.

OIG Forensic Analysis of Mobile Devices Utilized by Strzok and Page
Upon OIG's request in late January 2018, FBI provided four FBI issued mobile devices to OIG that had been
assigned to Strzok and Page. Strzok and Page each had one Samsung Galaxy S7 that was then-assigned to them
and one Galaxy S5 that had been previously assigned to them. OIG's forensic efforts focused on the S5 devices
because those were the devices that were in use during the previously identified periods of text message
collection tool failure.
OIG digital forensic examiners used forensic tools to recover thousands of text messages from these devices,
including many outside the period of collection tool failure (December 15, 20 I 6 to May 17, 2017) and many
that Strzok and Page had with persons other than each other. Approximately 9,311 text messages that were sent
or received during the period of collection tool failure were recovered from Strzok's S5 phone, of which
approximately 8,358 were sent to or received from Page. Approximately 10,760 text messages that were sent or
received during the period of collection tool failure were recovered from Page's S5 phone, of which
approximately 9,717 were sent to or received from Strzok. Thus, many of the text messages recovered from
Strzok's S5 were also recovered from Page's S5. However, some of the Strzok-Page text messages were only
recovered from Strzok's phone while others were only recovered from Page's phone. Jt is important to note that
in calculating the number of text messages sent during the period of collection tool failure we only included text
messages where the forensic tools recovered the message with an associated date and time. The forensic tools
also recovered thousands of other text messages or text message fragments that did not have an associated date
or time, and those were not included in calculating these summary numbers.

Additional OIG Forensic Efforts to Recover Text Messages
To further ensure the thoroughness of text message recovery efforts from the two S5 mobile devices, the 010
took several additional steps. First, the OJG consulted with the Department of Defense (DoD), which identified
an additional forensic tool that the OIG used to recover additional text messages in the period of collection tool
failure, as well as text messages from outside the period of collection tool failure and remnants of additional
text messages. Second, the OIG consulted with the FBl's ESOC to detennine if it would use any forensic tools
in addition to those utilized by OIG to recover text messages from the S5 phones. ESOC did not identify any
additional forensic tools. Third, the OIG contracted with a subject matter expert (SME) who specializes in
Android device digital forensic examinations to review the physical extraction files acquired by OIG from the
two Galaxy SS devices. The SME was able to recover 62 additional text messages in the period of collection
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tool failure, as well as text messages from outside the period of collection tool failure and remnants of
additional text messages.

OIG Discovery of Text Messages in Enterprise Database File
During its final quality assurance checks in May 2018, the OIG located an additional cache of text messages in
a database identified as "enterprise.db." This was in addition to the OIG's having recovered text messages on
the S5 phones in locations where they are typically located through the use of forensic extraction tools. This
database appeared to retain a copy of text messages sent and received beginning shortly after the phone was
issued until the day the phone was no longer connected to the service provider. The database included text
messages sent and received during the period the device was in use, including during the period of the FBl's
collection tool failure. Strzok was issued his S5 on or about January 26, 2015 and the enterprise.db had text
messages beginning on February 3, 2015. The FB( was unable to determine when Page was issued her S5;
however, the database had text messages beginning on February 12, 2016. Additionally, enterprise.db
contained other phone activity such as call logs.
Through the extraction of text messages from the enterprise.db database, the OIG recovered 74,385 lines of text
messages from Strzok's phone and 52,39S lines of text messages from Page's phone. These text messages
included those between Stnok and Page as well as those that they had with other individuals.
In addition, for the period prior to the collection tool failure, when the OIG compared the text messages in the
enterprise.db database with those the OIG obtained from FBI ESOC, it became apparent that there were
messages found in the enterprise.db database that had not been collected by the FBI's collection program, as
well as some messages that were not in the enterprise.db database but that had been collected by the FBl's
collection program. As an example, although the FBl's collection program had collected (and therefore
produced to the OIG) the text message on August 8, 20 I6, from Page to Strzok that stated, "He's not ever going
to become president, right? Right?!", it had not collected Strzok's response that same day which stated, "No, No
he's not. We'll stop it." It was only through the enterprise.db extraction that the OIG obtained this Strzok text
message.
The OIG compared the enterprise.db database results with the text message productions from the FBl's
collection tool for periods prior to the collection tool failure periods and concluded that the collection tool
captured more text messages than enterprise.db; however, there were multiple occasions when text messages
found in the enterprise.db database were not collected by the collection tool, even outside the gap period. The
missed messages were in groups or single occurrences, some on the same day and some over multiple days.
Page•s S5 had approximately 44 instances prior to the gap period in which approximately 404 messages were
not captured by the collection tool but were captured in enterprise.db, to include the aforementioned exchange
on August 8, 20 I 6. One instance involved 57 text messages not collected over the span of several hours.
The OJG noted that there were no discemable patterns regarding the content of text messages missed by the
collection tool but captured by enterprise.db, or captured by the collection tool but not found in the enterprise.db
database. That is, the OIG found that the content of the text messages did not appear to be a factor in whether
they were found in only one of the enterprise.db database or the messages saved by the collection tool; the
messages included some political content, some work•related content, and some personal content.
The OIG detennined that it was unable to conclude that all text messages were retained because each of the
enterprise.db database and the stored messages from FBl's collection tool contained text messages that the other
data set did not.
Upon OIG's request, ESOC lnfonnation Technology Specialist
U.S. Dtpartmt111 of Justlct
Office of the Inspector General

onsulted with the FBl's collection
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tool vendor, who infonned the FBI that the collection application does not write to enterprise.db. •
further
stated that ESOC's mobile device team and the vendor believed enterprise.db is intended to track applications
with administrative privileges and may have been collecting the logs from the collection tool or another source
such as the Short Message Service (SMS) texting application. The collection tool vendor preferred not to share
specific .
regarding where it saves collected data, maintaining that such information was proprietary;
however,
represented that he could revisit the issue with the vendor if deemed necessary.
OIG digital forensic examiners noted that most Samsung Galaxy S5 devices that they processed, to include nonFBI devices, contained the enterprise.db database. However, the examiners noted that only FBI issued S5
devices contained text message content in the database. OIG consulted with other digital forensic labs,
including the Department of Defense experts, who infonned the OIG that although they also found the
enterprise.db database on Samsung S5 mobile devices that they had examined, they had not found that the
database contained text messages.

OIG Contractor Review of Enterprise Database
In addition to retaining the contractor to recover additional text messages as described above, the OIG asked the
contractor to review the enterprise.db database and related applications to determine why text messages were
being copied to that location on the phones and detennine if any of the data was being transmitted to a different
location. The contractor's findings included the following:
•

•

•

Enterprise management software embedded in the Devices from Samsung ("Samsung Knox") was
responsible for copying text messages and other data to enterprise.db as a result of device configuration,
presumably by a designated mobile device administrator.
The FBl's collection tool leveraged the Samsung Knox capabilities and had access to data in
enterprise.db as well as broad access to the devices. The data stored in enterprise.db was being
transmitted from the devices to the collection toolSpecifically, data was collected by the tool
from enterprise.db via the Samsung Knox capabilities~
collection tool
application, and then transmitted to the collection tool- - - -.
The last time the collection tool reported a successful transmission of data for Strzok and Page's S5
devices was June 18, 2016 and December 13, 2016, respectively. This confirms the beginning of the
respective collection tool failure period for each device.

Additionally, the contractor informed the OIG that it was unlikely that Strzok and Page attempted to circumvent
the FBI's text message collection capabilities, and the OJG found no evidence that they did, as that would
require:
•
•

Root access to the devices, which requires a high level of sophistication
Collection tool or Samsung Knox administrator access, which is unlikely for an employee not tasked
with mobile device administration, compliance, monitoring or security.

OIG Contact with Phone Carrier
On January 23, 2018, OlG contacted Verizon Wireless to determine whether the carrier retained text message
content. According to Verizon's Legal Department, the content ofSMS text messages and/or MMS text
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messages is kept three to five days and sometimes up to seven. Their retention period is the same whether the
customer is the government or a private citizen. Accordingly, Verizon was not able to produce any text
messages for the FBI issued mobile devices in question.
Verizon only has visibility into the text messages sent through their network. They do not have access or
visibility into what users store on their phones; therefore, if a user chooses to keep text messages on their phone,
Verizon would not be able to access or produce text messages stored on the device outside of their established
retention timeframe.

Special Counsel's Office iPhones
The Special Counsel's Office (SCO) Executive Officer infonned the OIG that Strzok and Page were part of the
initial group of employees assigned to the SCO, Page on May 28, 2017 and Strzok in early June. They were
assigned iPhones provided by the Justice Management Division (JMD), Office of the Chief Information Officer
(OCJO), Information Technology (IT) staff. Based on the OIG's examination of their FBI mobile devices,
Strzok and Page continued to use their FBI devices while assigned to the SCO.
Page left the SCO on July 15, 2017. The SCO Executive Officer completed Page's Exit Clearance
Certification, but said that she did not physically receive Page's issued iPhone and laptop. During a phone call,
Page indicated to SCO that she had left her assigned cell phone and laptop on a bookshelf at the office on her
final day there. The SCO located the laptop but when asked on January 24, 2018, to locate Page's iPhone, the
SCO was unable to locate the iPhone. In early September 2018, JMD staff located Page's iPhone and notified
OlG, which took custody of the device. Upon examining Page's iPhone, the OIG detennined that it had been
reset to factory settings on July 31, 2017, but had not been reissued to a new user. The OIG examination found
that the iPhone did not contain any data related to Page's use of the device. Neither SCO nor JMD's Office of
the Chief Information Officer had records reflecting who handled the device or who reset it after Page turned in
her iPhone on July I 4, 2017. SCO's Records Officer told the OJG that she did not receive Page's phone
following her departure from the SCO and therefore did not review it for records that would possibly need to be
retained prior to the phone having been reset. As noted on page 395 of the OIG's June 2018 report entitled, "A
Review of Various Ac/ions by the Federal Bureau ofbll'esligation and Department ofJustice in Advance ofrhe
2016 Election," https://www .justice.gov/file/I 07199 I/download, the Department, uni ike the FBI, does not have
an automated system that seeks to retain text messages, and the service provider does not retain such messages
for more than 5 to 7 days.
According to SCO's Records Officer, Strzok was removed from SCO-related work in late July 2017, and he
completed his Exit Clearance Certificate on August 11, 2017. As part of an office records retention procedure,
the SCO Records Officer stated that she reviewed Strzok's phone on September 6, 2017. She told the OIG that
she determined it did not contain records that needed to be retained. She noted in her records log about Strzok's
phone: "No substantive texts, notes or reminders." The SCO Records Officer does not recall whether there
were any text messages on Strzok's phone, but said that she made an identical log entry for an iPhone she
reviewed from another employee on the same day that she specifically recalled having no text messages. Upon
the OIG's request, on or about January 22, 2018, this device was located and provided to the 010 on January
25, 2018. By that time, the device had been re-issued to a new user. OIG conducted forensic analysis of the
iPhone and determined that it had been reset to factory settings and reconfigured for the new user to whom it
was assigned. It had no content related to Strzok.
Upon reviewing a draft of this report, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General told the OIG that the
Department routinely resets mobile devices to factory settings when the device is returned from a user to enable
that device to be issued to another user in the future.
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OIG's Conclusion
The OIG investigation detennined that. although the FBI uses an automated a lication to wirelessly collect
text messages sent to or from FBI-issued mobile devices
where it is retained by
ESOC. Neither the FBI nor the DOJ currently has a policy directive mandating collection and preservation of
text messages by ESOC and that the identification and retention of substantive electronic communications is left
to the judgment of the individual employee. FBI Policy 0423D guides employees regarding what
communications are considered "substantive" and also informs employees that they must not use personal
electronic devices to communicate about cases. The OIG noted, however, that FBI policy informs its
employees to contact ESOC if they need to access electronic communications that the individual employee has
not preserved, such as text messages and email messages, thus identifying ESOC as the repository for these
types of communications.
The investigation also determined that the FBI replaced the S5 devices with S7 and S9 devices as part of a
regular technical refresh and to address issues with the FBl's text message collection tool. As of November 15,
2018, FBI acknowledged that it continued to experience failure of the collection tool in approximately I0
percent of the mobile devices then in service. The OIG investigation detennined that the FBl's collection tool
was not only failing to collect any data on certain phones during particular periods of time, it also does not
appear that it was collecting all text messages even when it was generally functioning to collect text messages.
The OIG forensically recovered thousands of text messages from FBI mobile devices issued to Strzok and Page
through its multiple extraction efforts. Approximately 9,311 text messages were recovered from Strzok's S5
during the collection tool failure period. Approximately I0, 760 text messages were recovered from Page's S5
during the collection tool failure period. The OIG's forensic recovery efforts also identified additional relevant
text messages from outside the collection tool failure period.
Page resigned from the FBI on May 4, 2018. Strzok's employment was terminated by the FBI on
August I0, 2018.
Separate from this report, the OJG will be submitting procedural reform recommendations to the FBI relating to
retention of electronic communications.

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APPENDIX 1

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FBI RESPONSE TO THE REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL {Case No. 2018-003523}
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) welcomes the work of the Department of
Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in conducting its investigation and
providing its conclusions regarding a gap in the FBl's collection of text messages on mobile
devices issued to former FBI employees Mr. Peter Strzok and Ms. Lisa Page. The FBI has been
aware of- and acknowledged previously - the fact that although a majority of text messages are
captured on its systems, there continue to be challenges in the collection and retention of text
messages sent and received on FBI mobile devices. The FBI continues to take steps to mitigate
those challenges. While the FBI is refining and improving its collection and retention approach,
there are multiple technological, cost, and human factors that must be considered and addressed.
As a general matter, like the DOJ, the FBI meets its legal preservation obligations by
implementation of policy and procedural requirements for employees to preserve electronic
communications that constitute Federal records or substantive communications, as defined by
policy. This preservation obligation applies regardless of the medium of transmission. Beyond
these legal obligations, the FBI has a practice of collecting and retaining text messages sent or
received on FBI-issued mobile devices. The decision to collect and retain these text messages,
including those the FBI is not obligated to preserve, was not imposed by statute, regulation, or
Executive Order. The FBI believes that its text collection practices far exceed those of most
other Federal agencies.
In the context of capturing and retaining text messages sent or received on FBI-issued
devices for business and discovery purposes, despite years of research by the FBI to address the
gap issue, and independent research by the DOJ, the FBI is not aware of any solution that closes
the collection gap entirely on its current mobile device platfonns. 1 Text message collection
failure, and rate of collection failure, has been an issue the FBI has worked to understand and
correct since its identification in 2014.
Upon recognizing the collection issues and failures, the FBI has performed ongoing
research of root causes, potential remediation, and alternatives to the existing collection and
retention methods. The FBI believes that no single root cause exists, but rather that several
contributing factors, independently or in combination with other factors, may affect collection
capability.
The FBI continues to work to improve the collection issue through device upgrades and
continues to assess improvements in collection after upgrades occur. The most recent upgrade,
to Galaxy S9 devices, is ongoing. The FBI also continues to work to drive down the number of
devices not properly reporting or collecting by investigating new or additional software and
processes, and by working with vendors, device manufactures, and carriers to develop solutions

1

It is important to recognize, however, that complete collection of text messages is neither
required nor necessary to meet the FBl's legal preservation obligations.

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and backstops to device-based collection. Some of these efforts were initiated in early 2016 and
are continuing.
Additionally, the FBI is taking parallel actions to address the less technical factors that
might affect the rate of collection. These include reorganizing security components to improve
communication and coordination, creating appropriate technical teams focused on gap issues,
and implementing a device monitoring process to provide alerts and corrective measures when a
device is not connecting or reporting properly. Further, in August 2018, the FBI provided
additional training to all of its Senior Executive Service personnel, including training on policies
and procedures related to the use of FBI-issued mobile devices. Similar mandatory training is
being provided to all FBl employees and atl employees should have received the training by
December 31, 20 I 8.
As to the present OlG report, the gaps in the FBl's general collection of text messages
predate the Midyear Exam investigation and the FBI and Special Counsel's Office investigations
into Russian influence and interference in the 2016 election. Prior to the OIG's investigation
into the FBl's actions in advance of the 2016 election, during at least two unrelated
investigations, one of which dates back to 2015, the FBI made the OIG aware of gaps in FBI text
message collection capabilities. The FBI accepts the fact that not all texts between Ms. Page and
Mr. Strozk were collected by the FBl's text collection tool but appreciates and agrees with the
OIG's conclusion and explanation that the content of text messages exchanged between Mr.
Strzok and Ms. Page did not appear to be a factor in their collection, or lack thereof. Further, the
OIG did not find that the gaps in collection were intentional on the part of the FBI or any FBI
personnel.
Regarding the physical devices issued to Ms. Page and Mr. Strzok, in January 2018 the
FBI preserved the S5 devices previously assigned to each of them. Those devices, and later the
S7 devices issued to Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page, were provided to the OJG upon its request.
Because the FBI was acting in a supporting role to the OIG investigation, and in order to avoid
even the appearance of a conflict of interest, the FBI did not anempt to exploit any of those
devices. As noted by the O[G, because of the level of sophistication and access that would be
required, it was unlikely that Ms. Page or Mr. Strzok attempted to circumvent the FBl's text
message collection capabilities; and, the OIG found no evidence that they did.
The FBI appreciates this opportunity to provide further background information and
context in response to the current report. The FBI is committed to working with the OlG to
address its findings and recommendations.

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The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) is a
statutorily created independent entity whose mission is to detect and deter
waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in the Department of Justice, and to
promote economy and efficiency in the Department’s operations.
To report allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, or misconduct regarding DOJ
programs, employees, contractors, grants, or contracts please visit or call the
DOJ OIG Hotline at oig.justice.gov/hotline or (800) 869-4499.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest
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Washington, DC 20530-0001

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