Records Management Responsibilities for Text Messages

1.  Consistent with records management federal law, DoD and DON instruction and Marine Corps orders, it is Marine Corps policy to manage the life cycle of records (creation, maintenance, use, and disposition), regardless of media, that document the transaction of mission and business to provide evidence of operational, logistical, and support transactions.
2.  Personnel designated as Marine Corps Capstone Officials are reminded that text messages, qualifying as records under the Federal Records Act, are to be retained according to the records management instruction prescribed by refs (a) – (f).  Marine Corps Capstone officials encompass all General Officer, Senior Executive Service, and senior leader billets of significant decision-making authority whose records are subject to capture and permanent retention by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
3.  In addition to their current responsibilities for preservation of qualified records documentation, Marine Forces Cyberspace Command will collaborate with DC I, and other key stakeholders, as necessary, to develop and implement measures necessary to ensure that qualified text messaging records of Capstone Officials are retained and only accessed via official means, for official purposes in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations. 
4.  For additional information contact the above POC or by organizational e-mail, HQMC_DCI_IC4_ICC_CY_Executive@usmc.mil.
5.  Released authorized by BGen J. A. Matos, Director, Information Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (IC4), Washington, D.C.