Rep. Issa presses White House on Gmail

The senior Republican member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says he's troubled by a White House official's use of Gmail to communicate with government colleagues and lobbyists from Google, his former employer.

Andrew McLaughlin, deputy chief technology officer with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, had details of his Gmail account inadvertently exposed through his use of Goggle Buzz.

"It appears, by your own admission, that the people you email most from your Gmail account include several senior colleagues within the Obama Administration, including Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and Director of Citizen Participation, and former Google coworker, Katie Jacobs Stanton. Additionally, your list of followers suggests that you remain actively engaged with more than two dozen individuals currently employed by Google, Inc., including a number of senior lobbyists and lawyers," Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) wrote in an April 8 letter.

White House officials' emails are subject to the Presidential Records Act; White House compliance with the retention mandate of the act was the subject of controversy during the Bush administration.

"The fact that you sought to communicate privately with a select group of individuals, many of whom possess significant influence in industry and government, with your Gmail account raises the specter that you were attempting to circumvent the laws associated with openness and transparency," Issa added.

Issa asks McLaughlin to clarify by April 22 six questions:

1. What is the Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) policy for ensuring that all messages sent or received by White House staff on private, nongovernmental e-mail accounts are preserved according to law?

2. What is OSTP's policy for retention of information posted on social networking platforms such as Twitter, Google Buzz or Facebook?

3. What procedure exists for ensuring that all messages sent or received by OSTP staff on private, non-governmental e-mail accounts or social networking platforms are properly categorized as presidential records or non-presidential records?

4. Who makes the decision about whether an email sent or received by a member of OSTP staff is categorized as a presidential record?

5. Are these categorization decisions made in concert with the White House Counsel's office and with a representative of the National Archives?

6. What review process has been instituted to ensure that each email is accurately categorized pursuant to law?

White House Chief Information Officer Brook Colangelo said in an Jan. 15 letter to two transparency watchdogs that the executive office of the president network, which extends to handheld devices, blocks access to external web email. "Neither the EOP network nor EOP Blackberry devices permit the use of known instant messaging services," she added.

For more:
- read Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) April 8 letter (.pdf)
- read White House CIO Brook Colangelo's Jan. 15 letter (.pdf)
- check out this Nextgov article
- see an Australian TV video that questions Google's commitment to doing no evil

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